Can Radon Levels Fluctuate Inside A NJ House?

Posted by Frank J Delle Donne on

Do Radon Levels Fluctuate Inside A Typical NJ Home? | Radon Inspector Brick NJ

January 15, 2023

As part of a home inspection done on a home in Red Bank, NJ, Regal Home Inspections, LLC performed a radon test. This occurred about 4 years ago. Following the protocols for the placement of the radon test, it was conducted over a 2, 3 or 4 day period. I don’t recall the exact interval but I know, 100%, that it was done following the testing requirements. Those requirements have a minimum exposure time of 48 hours and as many as 144 hours (e.g. the equivalent of 6 full days). The test came back below the NJ DEP’s, “Action level” of 4.0 pico Curries per liter of air (pCI/L) so there was no further action that needed to be taken. Case closed. A couple of years later I received a call from the young lady that hired us for the Red Bank inspection and radon test because they had decided to sell that home and when the new buyer did their radon test it came back ABOVE 4.0. She asked can that happen and I said, “Yes” it’s possible. That radon levels can fluctuate inside a NJ home.

In 2022, we did another home inspection including a radon test and this time, the test we did in association with the home inspection came back ABOVE 4.0pCi/L. The seller disagreed, hired someone else to do a test and the second test came back below 4.0.  The seller complained but didn’t understand that radon levels can change. She complained that I had done something that made the test come back high.  In my response I stated that, “It’s not like I carry a spray can of radon with me!”  Additionally, I called one of the labs we’re affiliated with to ask a lab specialist if it’s possible for someone to fake a high result. His response was basically if the radon canister was opened, placed upside down on the basement’s concrete floor over a crack in the floor it’s nearly impossible to fake a high reading.  Now please remember that A) Radon is one of the elements on the Periodic Table of the Elements. Just as is Oxygen, Helium, Iron, Gold, Uranium, etc. B) It’s a radioactive element so unless one wants to expose themselves to Alpha radiation, Beta radiation or Gamma radiation, it’s not a good idea to mess around with this stuff.  It’s not like I can sprinkle some radon pixie dust on the test device to fake a high reading. C) The test device has to be placed following recognized protocols which we ALWAYS do.

Dealing With Radon In The NJ Home

Those are two anecdotes that give a little background. For over 31 years my family and I have lived in an area identified by the NJ DEP as a Tier 1 or “High radon potential” area.  During the 10 years or so that I’ve been a home inspector and certified to conduct radon testing I’ve tested my home (In the basement) about 5 times. The results have always been between 2.4 and 2.7pCI/L. Late, last winter (2022) I purchased an active radon monitor. It hangs on the wall like a thermostat. It has an app to by smartphone and constantly measured for radon. Here’s an actual photo of the monitor. It’s manufactu-red by a company called AirThings

Radon Levels | Radon Inspector Brick NJ
AirThings Monitor in my basement.
radon levels app | radon inspector brick nj
Screenshot of the app on my phone on 1/15/2023.

and I urge everyone to have one in your home. Their website is…  Airthings | check it out for the leading radon and indoor air quality monitors. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers and 2nd only to cigarettes in causing lung cancer. Estimates are that 21,000 people die each year from radon caused lung cancer.

Again, the AirThings monitor was installed in the late winter of 2022. Everything looked good and the monitor read, as I was expecting, in the 2.5pCi/L range. Then Spring arrived. What do many of us do when spring arrives and the outside temperature rises to the mid 60s or 70s? We open all the windows as we did.  About 2 days later the AirThings app on my phone issued an alarm of sorts. MUCH to my surprise, it notified me that the radon level in my basement rose above 4.0!!!  The radon training requires that the test be done while maintaining, “Closed House Conditions.”  That means no open windows, refrain from using the fireplace, etc. Why, because as I experienced 1st hand, opening the windows and airing out the house can cause negative pressure inside the house. Naturally the house wants to equalize the pressure which, in my case, led to drawing radon into the basement.

To rectify the situation, I opened a couple of windows in my basement. Just a crack, mind you, but enough to get some fresh air in. That seemed to do the trick. The average radon level dropped to below 2.0 and often close to 1.0pCi/L.

Then…I turned on a portable heater in my basement. There is some heat from the forced hot air heating system but I was working on a project and painting some cabinet doors that had been removed and placed on a couple of tables in the basement. With the intention of increasing the temperature of the basement to aid in the paint drying a little quicker, I turned on a portable, electric heater and closed the windows.  It did the job I wanted it to do and the basement was nice and warm. However, warm air rises. I believe what happened is that as the warm air rose from the basement it, again, created negative pressure inside the basement. The way the house equalized the pressure was to draw air into the basement from the perimeter drain, etc. That caused the radon to spike to 3.0pCi/L. My project is done. The heater is off and the window is open again and the radon levels are going down.

Key Takeaways | Dealing With Radon In The NJ Home

So, what are the key take aways from this story?

  • Radon levels change. Do not ASSUME that if it tests low once that it will always be low.
  • Test regularly if that’s possible.
  • And test at different times of the year. Since your home’s conditions may change seasonally, test seasonally until you get a good indication how the radon potential changes year-round.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your specific situation, please call either Brian or Frank at Regal Home Inspections, LLC. We’re both licensed by the NJ DEP to test for radon.  Regal Home Inspections, LLC is licensed to test for radon in single family homes, townhouses, duplex homes, single unit condominiums. Frank is also licensed to perform radon testing in commercial buildings, large and small and schools including preschools and child care centers. Commercial buildings, large and small and schools including preschools and child care centers require a great deal of pre-testing analysis, coordination and fact finding and then strict adherence to the rules set forth by the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (AARST).

Call – Brian @ 732 740 8365 or Frank @ 908 902 2590.

Rarely Considered Health Effects of Radon

Posted by Frank J Delle Donne on

Radon – It may be more of a health issue than previously thought.

As we’ve known since about 1986, radon is a residential health issue. In 1986, a worker at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania was setting off the radiation detectors on his way into work.  It was determined that the source of his radiation was coming from the radon in his house, not from the nuclear power plant. The federal government bought his house and it has been used as a residential radon lab and study center since. Subsequent to that it was determined that radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer for non smokers. At some training in March 2021, the instructor pointed out that being in an environment with a radon level of 1pCi/L for 24 hours is equivalent to smoking 2 packs a day.

First, let’s review what is radon and why is it a cause of cancer?  First, radon is a naturally occurring gas, in fact an element. If you remember from High School Chemistry, the Periodic Table of the Elements, radon is an element.  Oxygen, gold, silver, iron are elements as well. However, radon is a radioactive gas. Its origins begin with Uranium 238 in the bedrock in the soil.  A radioactive element spontaneously releases protons, neutrons or electrons. As they do they change their state. Eventually, due to many spontaneous changes and over many, many years, the Uranium 238 eventually becomes radium, another natural element and from Uranium to radium they’ve all been solids stuck in the bedrock.  When radium decays (aka spontaneously changes) it becomes radon which is a gas. For the next 3.8 days, the radon gas rises from the soil and can enter homes or any other building (Schools, businesses, etc.) that have contact with the soil. When radon decays, it A) Releases alpha radiation and B) Turns back into a solid so it basically stops moving. It’s the radiation that is harmful. Radiation in large doses can cause cancer. Any radiation (From the Sun for example causing skin cancer) is dangerous. When you get an X-Ray, for example, there’s some exposure to radiation but since most of us don’t get X-Rays on a regular basis, it’s not harmful. It’s the exposure to radiation that results in the Dental Technician to place the lead lined apron over you so the exposure to the radiation is focused on the area it’s needed.

Second, when radon enters a home it can enter homes with basement, concrete slabs and crawl spaces. While I have not personally done a test resulting in a high radon reading in a house with a crawl space, I have had high radon readings in homes with basements, of course, and with slabs (No basements).

Third, when we inhale radon gas (Red sphere in the diagram below), if it’s not expelled in the next breath, it’s possible that it will go through its radioactive decay while the radon is in our lungs.  Now, just like the sun exposure to our skin, inside our lungs the radon elements are releasing atomic levels of energy in the form of alpha radiation. When it does, it spontaneously changes to lead (Pb), a solid (All following elements are also solids) with a radioactive half life of 26.8 minutes then bam! Another punch of energy but this time it’s beta radiation. Beta radiation is more powerful than alpha radiation and the Pb atom changes to an element called Bismuth (Bi).  In 20 minutes, the Bi spontaneously changes and becomes a nasty element called Polonium (Po). From the site, Polonium-210: Effects, symptoms, and diagnosis (medicalnewstoday.com) there are 25 variations of Po.  Also noted at this site, “Polonium-210 is the deadly poison that was used to kill the former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, in London in 2006. He died of radiation sickness.”

In the radon radio-active-decay process, we see three varieties of Po (Green spheres in the illustration below). Po-218 initially, then Po-214 and eventually Po-210.

All of these characteristics are why the potential to get cancer from radon exists!

That information alone should motivate you to conduct annual radon tests!  But more information was learned at some 2022 training the I attended for my current NJ DEP Radon Measurement Technician licensing. That new information is that there are studies that point to not only lung cancer from radon by childhood leukemia.  Here are a couple of links below that shed some light on that issue.

Environmental radon exposure and childhood leukemia – PubMed (nih.gov)

From the above link, “Among 12 ecological studies, 11 reported a positive association between radon levels and elevated frequency of childhood leukemia, with 8 being significant. In conjunction with ecological studies, several case-control studies on indoor radon exposure and childhood leukemia were examined, and most investigations indicated a weak association with only a few showing significance.”

Childhood leukaemia in areas with different radon levels: a spatial and temporal analysis using GIS | Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (bmj.com)

For the health and safety of your family, what should you do?

  • Test for radon annually. Conducting short term tests are what’s used for real estate transactions. By radon testing protocols, a real estate, short term test is at a minimum of 48 hours long and up to 6 days. Even if you’ve been in your home for years, test annually.
  • Know your “Radon potential”. The NJ DEP classifies every Borough, Township and City in the state as either, “High Radon Potential”, “Moderate Radon Potential” or “Low Radon Potential”. The classification has to do with the percentage of homes tested vs the probability of having a radon test above 4.0pCI/L. 4.0 is the recognized, “Action Level”. In a real estate transaction, a radon level of 4.0 or higher requires mitigation. 3.9 or below and no further action is required for the sale of the home.

Anecdotally, I live in a NJ DEP classified, “High radon potential” area.  When we moved in radon tests were not common. When I became a home inspector and licensed for radon, I became aware and tested my home. I’ve conducted about 6 tests in my home over the past 9 years and they’ve always come back at around 2.5pCi/l in the basement. We don’t live in the basement but we do exercise there.  I recently purchased a radon detector from a company called Air Things – https://www.airthings.com/

After activating it this past summer, after a week or 10 days of calibration, it provided an reading of that same, 2.3 – 2.7pCI/L range.  About 6 weeks prior to writing this piece, the weather was cool enough to turn off the AC and open windows. After about 10 days of open windows on the floor above the basement, the radon levels in the basement exceeded 4.0pCi/L ! I was shocked but remembered from training over the years that opening windows on the floors above the basement can increase radon levels. Air passing through the house on the 1st level above the basement can cause negative pressure inside the basement. As the pressure inside the basement naturally wants to equalize, it has the potential to draw radon in from the soil and I believe that’s what happened in my home. In addition to not, “airing out” the house, I cracked a few basement windows open (Which I had not previously done).  Our basement is also a walk out so I leave the basement door to the outside open more now than I did before and the radon levels are in the 1.2 – 1.6pCi/L range pretty reliably.

Conclusions:

  • Take radon seriously. For all people, young and old. Help prevent lung cancer and potentially leukemia.
  • Either test for radon regularly or purchase an active radon monitor like the products sold by Air Things.

Final notes: The NJ DEP is implementing new radon measurement protocols effective December 3, 2022. Unfortunately, the new protocols will drive the price of radon testing up.  Currently, a 1200 square foot split level house would require 1 test device in the, “Lowest livable level” (aka basement). The new protocols will require at least four (4) tests in the same house.  If you’d like to have us conduct a radon test for you, prior to December 1, 2022, prices start at $100 (There are other factors that determine the number of tests now but 1 can is often allowable).  After December 1, the prices will definitely be increasing.

Frank J. Delle Donne is a NJ DEP Licensed Radon Measurement Technician. First licensed for radon testing in December 2013. He is co-owner of Regal Home Inspections, LLC along with his son, Brian.

Frank is licensed to do NJ home inspections, NJ DEP Core and 7B termite (Wood destroying insect) inspections and radon testing. Brian is licensed to do NJ home inspections, radon testing and lead paint testing.