Radon

[Twirly]

We are selling our first floor flat and our buyer's solicitor is asking if we've had a radon test done. I've never heard of this before, has anyone else had this done/had it requested/asked for it to be done? Is this common these days? Have asked my estate agent, but they won't get back to me tomorrow (if they know, as they didn't mention the need for this when they started marketing the property).

[Carrie]

Absolutely no need to get radon tests done around here, not the right kind of underlying geology!

[woodrot]

yup. degrading granite innit - not much around here

[numbers]

as much use as a check for mining subsidence.

The buyer's solicitor's clearly going through a stupid check-list without thinking about it. With Lower London tertiary and clays, there's no need for this as said above, unlike areas with granites or kimmeridge clay where there is erosion of radioactive material).

[uncleglen]

Are you in Aberdeen or the West Country?

[charliebubs]

Or the midlands.....there's radon in parts of Northamptonshire.

The buyers lawyer can do a quick search online and see if your property is in a radon affected area....

http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/Radiation/UnderstandingRadiation/UnderstandingRadiationTopics/Radon/

(They took over from the National Radiological Protection Board)

[Twirly]

Thank you folks. I wondered I'd it was some sort of checklist thing. My response to my solicitor when he asked the question was "no,

why would I?"

Funnily enough, my husband is from Aberdeen...

[numbers]

Aberdeen = Granite City (as it is affectionately known) :)

[Loz]

Twirly Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Funnily enough, my husband is from Aberdeen...

Have you had a radon test done on him?

[Twirly]

Yes, that could be a valid point Loz!

[uncleglen]

In those areas of high radon there is danger of build-up in the air inside buildings and hence risk of lung cancer, so those dwellings have filters fitted. (or at least that was what was going on when I did radiation chemistry)

[Albert Fegg]

There's a high level of radox in our bathroom but it's never attracted the attention of any solicitors.

[Marmora Man]

When I first lived in Cornwall our house was assessed as being "radon positive" as it sat above a granite seam. The hamlet however had a graveyard and the average age of death in the previous two centuries seems to be well over 75 - so it didn't seem to me to be of major importance.

Our new house in Cornwall has radon traps fitted which are, I understand, nothing more than thick polythene sheets with extraction vents to allow the radon to vent out into fresh air rather than through the floors to be concentrated inside the house.

[El Pibe]

We had to put huge thick orange radon sheeting down over the foundations on our house.

Also with air tightness and mechanical ventilation (as long as it wokrs propoerly) we shouldn't have any problem.

Mind you a swizz at this http://www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/historicmaps.html?id=1002149 suggests that it isn't a problem full stop in that neck of the woods (except the orange bits), but you know, regulations is regulations.....

east dulwich, clay all the way baby....http://www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/historicmaps.html?id=1003426

[The Minkey]

Send them this radon map of the UK: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ukradon.org/gfx/map.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.ukradon.org/map.php?map%3Denglandwales&h=815&w=621&sz=114&tbnid=ip69R-2ZjbRW9M:&tbnh=91&tbnw=69&zoom=1&usg=__5gANEUCaQlA2EYZmZ21rphjUWwQ=&docid=-KTciZHs8eJFIM&sa=X&ei=XfVXUojiFMGS7AaEzoCYAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEUQ9QEwAw

[El Pibe]

eek, orange!!

 

[numbers]

Would I sound too much like 'Mr Logic' (he's an acute localised bodily smart in the rectal area), if I said that there's NO such thing as a granite SEAM?!!!

edited to add brackets (like anyone should care)!