Moved into new (to us, built in 1980) house 2 years ago. Installed an Airthings radon meter a year ago. Levels get up to 400 Bq/m3 when all the windows are closed. Finally had a radon mitigation system installed. Will hopefully get to much safer level below 100 Bq/m3.
Where is it coming from?!
“Radon comes from the natural radioactive breakdown of uranium and thorium found in the earth’s soil, rock, and groundwater. As these elements decay over time, they turn into radium and then release radon gas, which seeps up through the ground and can get trapped inside buildings.”
So, a natural radioactive gas that seeps into the house through the foundation. The mitigation system puts a vacuum under the basement concrete slab and vents it outside.
Very common in Canada. All new construction is required to have a port already installed in the slab to install a system.
is it something specifics of some areas because I never heard of this?
A little radon gets produced by basically all rock on Earth, but some types (like granite) emit more than others (like limestone). In the US, it’s a bigger concern in the midwest and mountain areas than the south or parts of the west coast. You can look up EPA maps to show the areas of relative concern.
Worldwide, though… I had trouble finding much detail.
No, it happens pretty much everywhere.
No, it depends on the geology. Some granitic rocks, black shales, sedimentary rocks with high concentrations of uranium, and metamorphic rocks derived from the latter 3 will have high radon. Otherwise it’s not a problem.
Odds are your local or national government has published radon susceptibility maps with detailed info.
We can’t get radon in NW Florida. The largest natural rocks are usually pea gravel in creek beds or creek beaches. Only exception I’ve found after hiking and kayaking all over this corner of the state are some iron ore “boulders” at a city park, which is why they built a water mill there.
If you find a rock in the woods, it’s concrete or asphalt. :)
EDIT: If you go east a good bit there are limestone caves. Pretty neat, no radon.
Here is the official map for Germany: https://www.bfs.de/DE/themen/ion/umwelt/radon/karten/boden.html (Map can be understood without knowing any German)
Looks like it’s a considerably bigger problem in Canada compared to Germany.
https://evictradon.org/radon/radon-in-canada/
Looks like Poland is actually the worst in the world.
Oh wow. Interesting that it is measured this accurately anyway. Thanks for sharing!
It comes out of the ground. It’s more prevalent in certain areas. It accumulates in basements and crawl spaces and can cause lung cancer from long term exposure.
So people willingly go and live in places where deadly gas just seeps out of the ground?
Let us know if you find a place without any radon so that we can all move there. I hope your spaceship is big enough for all of us. :)
Aw hell no! I don’t want NW Florida flooded with humans. We have great population numbers as is thank you very much!
Seriously, we don’t have rocks. “No damn cat, and no damn cradle.”
https://old.lemmy.world/comment/26470576
You don’t live on a thin crust of a planet of molten stone?
NW Florida is mainly 1" of topsoil and then a sandy red clay mix all the way to China.
The South, except where the last of the Appalachians dip in, is basically radon free.
https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/images2/radon-map.gif
it comes from the ground usually from decaying sources, like uranium or other heavy elements.