Crawl Spaces and Radon Mitigation

“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them!” It depends who you ask. In the Chicago Suburbs, many of our homes have been built with a combination of a basement foundation and a crawl space. Your crawlspace is located above your basement level and under your first floor (or room addition perhaps). Some crawl spaces are easily accessible and are a great storage resource for homeowners. Others can have a very small or difficult entry and it’s easy to forget about them.

Many people are under the impression that basements are the problem when it comes to elevated indoor radon levels and this simply isn’t true. Any footprint of your home that is in contact with the soil can lead to elevated levels. Since Radon is a soil gas, it can and will easily penetrate your crawl space floor, therefore affecting the air that you breath!

Radon can penetrate through concrete crawl spaces, just as it can your basement foundation. If your crawl space floor is dirt or gravel, the penetration is even easier! If any part of your home tests elevated for radon gas, your crawl space would be included in the radon mitigation service. Because Radon is a heavy gas it tends to settle in the lowest levels of our homes. 80% of the time, your basement level will be higher than the crawl space reading, however…..20% of the time the reverse is true! That’s why valid radon testing in all foundations is so important.

A properly installed radon mitigation system will capture the gas within enclosed pipe and allows it to be rerouted outside, as it should be, therefore reducing your radon levels inside! Concrete crawl spaces would have a suction point and pipe installed to do just that. Gravel and/or dirt crawl spaces would have the floor of the crawl space encapsulated in addition to the suction point and pipe. With a radon system, you are not allowed to leave the aggregate stone exposed in a crawl. A side benefit of your radon system is drier air in the basement! Helps reduce that damp, stinky smell that so many times happen in basements and most definitely crawl space areas.

A well constructed radon system could be installed and actively working in about a half of a day! Once the radon fan is active, the system is then currently working and already reducing levels in your home!

If you have questions about your crawl space or your basement, and wanted to explore the options for radon mitigation specific to your home, then please, give our office a call.