Managing Radon: Essential Advice for Sealed Crawl Spaces

Unlock the secrets to safely managing radon in your crawl space and protect your family from this invisible threat! Did you know that sealing your crawl space can inadvertently trap radon, increasing your risk of lung cancer? Michael Church, our expert from Crawl Space Ninja, sheds light on this critical issue in our latest episode. He breaks down how traditional open crawl spaces naturally ventilate radon and what changes when you encapsulate. Learn why ongoing radon testing is crucial and discover practical solutions like foundation vent fans and sub membrane depressurization systems that ensure your home stays safe and radon-free.

Join us for this vital discussion as Michael shares actionable advice for anyone planning a crawl space encapsulation. Understand the importance of not sealing all vents and how to properly install a dehumidifier and fan to maintain healthy air flow. Michael also dives into the nuances of soil gases and how they can affect your home beyond just radon. Don't miss this episode, packed with expert insights and tips to ensure your crawl space encapsulation project safeguards your home and health effectively.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:00):
Hey, michael Church, crawl Space Ninja.
Today we're continuing ourCrawl Space Misconception series
and today I want to talk to youabout radon.
Radon is one of those thingsthat you cannot smell, even
though people say you can.
It's odorless, tasteless, youcan't see it.
So how do you know you have itand what's the proper way to
address it?
So if you have a house with anopen crawl space in other words,

(00:23):
the vents are open, the air cantravel in and out and all that
sort of thing it's kind of likehaving the windows open in your
house you probably don't have aradon problem in the house
because the crawl space isnaturally ventilating the radon
outside.
But one of the things that canhappen if you decide to seal, or
what we call crawl spaceencapsulation, you can seal up
all the vents and then thatradon has nowhere to go but up

(00:47):
into your home.
Now, keep in mind you cannotsmell radon.
The only way to determine ifyou have radon or not is with an
ongoing radon test kit.
There's electrical kits thatyou can purchase, and I'll put a
link to one down below andthere's also some DIY kits where
you leave them out in yourhouse for a couple of days and

(01:07):
then you send it off to a laband they tell you how many
picocuries of radon per literthere are and all that kind of
stuff.
Remember, you want to be underfour, not at four under four
according to the EPA and they goas far as to say two or less is
better.
Obviously, less radon is better.
Okay, if you had zero, that'sbetter, but unfortunately we

(01:29):
can't always accomplish zero.
So what you don't want to do isyou don't want to encapsulate
the crawl space and create aradon problem.
So our methodologies forencapsulating the crawl space is
we seal all the vents but one,install that dehumidifier to
control humidity and theninstall that foundation vent fan
, according to EPArecommendations, to blow one CFM

(01:50):
of air out for every 50 squarefeet in order to draw soil gases
out of the crawl space, justlike when your crawl space was
open or vented prior toencapsulation.
It gives that soil gas theopportunity to be pushed outside
the house before it has achance to go up into your home.
A lot of our competition.
They will seal all of the ventsand only allow the soil gases

(02:13):
to go up.
Another thing you need to knowis there's more to soil gases
than just radon.
There's methane, there'sdifferent odors, there's
different things like that thatcan build up in an encapsulated
crawl space.
So you want to make sure youpush that air out of the crawl
space, even if you have a radonproblem.
You can do what's called a submembrane depressurization system

(02:34):
.
I've done some videos aboutthat if you want to check them
out.
But basically what that means isyou run a pipe under the
plastic and you have it run to aradon fan which pushes the air
out from under the plasticbefore it has a chance to even
enter the crawl space, much lessenter your home.
So don't go with a fullencapsulation without some type
of ventilation, because youdon't wanna take a risk of

(02:55):
building up radon in your homeand causing what is now
considered the number one causeof lung cancer among non-smokers
and the number two cause oflung cancer among everyone.
So we don't want that to be aproblem for you.
So make sure you address radonproperly.
I'm Michael Church Crawl SpaceNinja.
We hope you make it a happy andblessed day and we'll see you
later.