Radon in the house?

Question

I just purchased a new home and it has a 13% Radon level in the basement. The seller is doing a radon mitigation to fix the problem. So my question is does radon mitigation get rid of the radon completely and/or stop it from coming in?How does this work exactly? After the radon mitigation are we safe? Are there things that I can do to prevent this? The basement has no door so i know it can seep up to the upstairs of the house as well. The house also has forced air upstairs pulling the air up. I have a 6 year old and we plan to live there for 5 years. Will we be safe from it or is there anything else I can do?

Answer 1

The radon could be from the cement in the basement or the ground around the house. Mitigation could be a number of things depending on the levels and where it is coming from. Ventilation is one method. Sealing the floors and walls of the basement may be another. Bottom line is when the work is done the house will have to be retested to ensure it is at or below the safe level and that it will stay there.

Answer 2

I had a home and during the inspection a high level of Radon was discovered. I hired a company to come in and install a Radon system. I had a sump pump, in that home, so they used that existing hole for the Radon system. They used Plexiglas to cover the sump pump hole, which they sealed, and installed a 3" plastic pipe from the Plexiglas cover up the basement wall and then outside the house to the roof level. The system contained a 120 volt powered pump which sucked the underground vapors up and out of the house through the plastic pipe. It had a pressure gage, on the pipe, to ensure that the system was working. They guaranteed the system for 10 years and the Radon level re-check revealed levels within standards. So they do work and if higher Radon levels are found, in a home, they must be corrected before a sale. If there is no sump pump hole, in the basement floor, they will have to cut a hole for the system installation. This is if the system your are getting is like the one I purchased.