Radon

[dieselKiller]

Has anyone bought a home in a radon-affected area? Did you know prior to making your offer? If not, what did you do when you found out? Thanks for any practical tips or general reassurance.

And parts of Derbyshire

Entirety of Cornwall AFAIK.

I've lived here my whole life, and beyond having a radon detector in my old granite house, it's never been a second thought.

www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/environmental-protection/environmental-protection-radon/

Lived in and around Dartmoor for 20 years before moving abroad. I was more likely to get more radiation exposure from picking dh up from his nuclear powered black tube, than I was from living in my house.

It has never crossed my mind to worry about it; the Cornish and lots of Devon seem to survive OK.....

If you want to reduce radon concentration in your house you need to ventilate any basement or underfloor areas. That is the standard practice in the USA. We are a bit less paranoid over here.

I live near a radon town. Number of heads equals number of inhabitants. Less frivolously, cancer rates no higher than average.

Measures you can take - get a test done in the house concerned.

www.ukradon.org/information/ukmaps

A large amount of the U.K. is affected.

All of Northamptonshire I think

Every where round here

Some (not all) granite areas and the Northamptonshire ironstone areas can have elevated levels of radon.

You can contact the local building control department for advice. You can get an indoor measuring kit for the house which will give you an indication of whether you are likely to need to do anything further.

More info is here:

www.ukradon.org

I wouldn’t be very concerned about it - modern houses in radon affected areas will have protective measures, older houses tend to be more draughty and so tend to be naturally ventilated. Radon is much heavier than air and tends to collect in basements and sub floor voids, and can be dealt with by air bricks or sumps.

I did my dissertation on radon in Cornwall, and anecdotally found that people claimed to be particularly long lived in the areas where I found the highest readings!

Thanks everyone!