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House in radon gas area
Comments
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This is not a trivial problem. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 21000 deaths a year are caused by Radon. The estimate for the UK is 1000-2000.
The UK action limit is 200 becquerels/cubic metre, which translates to 5.4 pCi/litre. The US limit is significantly lower, at 4 pCi/l.
The UK limit was set in 1990, so there is scope for downwards revision. Besides that, the US is looking to reduce their action level.
To put this into perspective, average outdoor radon levels are 4 bq/m3, and inside the average house the concentration is 20 bq/m3. Levels over 40,000 bq/m3 have been found in some places, and it is not uncommon to find properties with 200 bq/m3.
Somebody spending 8 hours per day in a property with 200 bq/m3 would receive the annual equivalent radiation dose to undergoing 112 chest x-rays, or each day do the equivalent damage to their lungs as smoking 5 cigarrettes.... so in my opinion it's always worth a few £ to test a property, regardless of where it's located.
FYI, I know of a property that the land searches / maps said wasn't in an affected area and the test came back over 2000 bq/m3.0 -
Almost all house are in a possible radon area now. When I sold my last house I left £1,000 with my lawyer for 6 months during which time the buyers could test and make a claim. No big deal.I am a Mortgage Adviser
You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.0 -
Almost all house are in a possible radon area now.
http://www.ukradon.org/article.php?key=indicativemap
This shows the chances of being above the current UK action level.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0
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