Florida Department of Health - Florida State University

Group 2 - Radon Mitigation

Results & Conclusion

Initial radon test were conducted a two weeks prior to installing the system.  This was done to  assure Group 2 had the most  up to date radon levels in Candidate House I. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The average radon in the home was 26.1 pCi/L. 

 

Candidate House I has approximately 2800 Air  Conditioned square feet.  One suction point per 800—1200 square feet is recommended.  For Candidate House I  a minimal of two suction points were recommended to the owner.  The owner did not like the idea of having two holes placed in the slab of the home.  Group 2 would have to make due with  a single suction point in  Utility Closet 1. 

After the radon mitigation system had been running  for 24 hours a follow up radon test was done to find out how well the mitigation system was working. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The average radon level in the home is 5.9 pCi/L

From the single suction point a reduction of 77.4% has occurred.  These results are still above the EPA’s recommended 4.0 pCi/L but there are a couple of reasons for this. The testing  radon a was conducted a day after it had rained in Tallahassee. 

Rain acts as a plastic tarp to the radon in the ground, it allows it to build until the sun is able to come out and dry up the rain.  When the rain is dry all of the built up gas starts releasing itself in much higher quantities.  Rain is a naturally occurring factor, so a year long test was recommended to more accurately determine a range the radon varies with in the home.  If for 2/3 of the year the system keeps the house below 4.0 pCi/L the system  need no modification.  If the levels can not be maintained below 4.0 pCi/L for 2/3 of the year a second suction point must be added.  The second suction point that was recommended before the system installation began. 

 

Conclusion

One of the main goals in this project was to keep the owner of Candidate House I happy and abide to any request the owner may have made.  With a single suction point to have a 77.4% drop in radon is impeccable results, according to our sponsors at the Florida Department of  Health.  In a house that two suction points should be to achieve these results shows we have created a very efficient system. With a year long test it will further show how affective the system is in mitigating the radon in Candidate House I.

Group 2 has set forth to exceed expectations for this project and for that reason when the year long test is over Group 2 can make an assessment of the situation at the home and advise the home owner of any course of action that may be necessary to further mitigate the radon issues in the home.

As a group we were able to come together and become semi-experts on a subject matter that never was in our vocabulary.  This learning process could not have been achieved if it were not for our sponsors at  the Florida Department of Health Clark Eldredge and Jorge Laguna, and our faculty advisor Dr. Cesar Luongo.  Thank you all for all of your devoted time and effort it took to make this project the success it has become.