Hello!
My partner and I are in the process of buying a house, which it has now turned out partially contains blåbetong. When we discovered this, we requested to conduct a radon measurement before signing the contract, and today it has shown that the radon levels are a bit too high (around 500 Bq/m3).
According to the realtor, the seller has agreed to cover the cost of radon remediation, but I still feel a bit uncertain about this.
When radon problems arise due to the building material, I believe I've understood that increased ventilation is essential. But since this can lead to increased heating costs, I wonder if it's possible to demand a reduction in the purchase price even though the seller is covering the remediation?
Can a house that has had radon problems but has been remediated (and shows acceptable levels) be difficult to sell in the future?
Anyone who has been in a similar situation or has experience with this? Please write a line or two if so.
Best Regards,
MadMax
My partner and I are in the process of buying a house, which it has now turned out partially contains blåbetong. When we discovered this, we requested to conduct a radon measurement before signing the contract, and today it has shown that the radon levels are a bit too high (around 500 Bq/m3).
According to the realtor, the seller has agreed to cover the cost of radon remediation, but I still feel a bit uncertain about this.
When radon problems arise due to the building material, I believe I've understood that increased ventilation is essential. But since this can lead to increased heating costs, I wonder if it's possible to demand a reduction in the purchase price even though the seller is covering the remediation?
Can a house that has had radon problems but has been remediated (and shows acceptable levels) be difficult to sell in the future?
Anyone who has been in a similar situation or has experience with this? Please write a line or two if so.
Best Regards,
MadMax
I can't answer your last question, but the ventilation can be done with heat recovery to avoid the increased heating costs. However, such a system is quite expensive, expect to pay around 60-70,000 roughly. So either the seller should address this, or you should have a reduction in the purchase price. Good luck!
When a house contains blåbetong, radon is only part of the problem. Blåbetong contains uranium, so there is some gamma radiation from it. If only the foundation is made of blåbetong, then it should be enough to ventilate (assuming you don't plan to furnish a bedroom in the basement), but if the walls are also made of it, I would refrain from buying the house. There are enough cancer risks in our society that one should not voluntarily expose oneself to another one...
Hello!
Thank you for your responses.
Regarding gamma radiation from blåbetong, it seems that the danger it poses can be debated. According to SSI (Swedish Radiation Protection Institute), one should primarily be cautious of blåbetong due to the risk of it emitting radon.
There are no studies that clearly show it is dangerous for humans to be exposed to such low levels of radiation as blåbetong emits.
According to SSI's reasoning, residents in a blåbetong house can be maximally exposed to a radiation dose of 5mS per year. This should be compared to nuclear power plant workers, who can be exposed to a maximum of 50mS per year. The fact is, one is exposed to more or less radiation all the time, from the ground, surrounding houses, mobile phones, etc...
In any case.
The near future (that is, until we get an answer on what measures the seller plans to take to correct the radon problem) will determine whether we complete the house purchase or not.
Best regards, MadMax
Thank you for your responses.
Regarding gamma radiation from blåbetong, it seems that the danger it poses can be debated. According to SSI (Swedish Radiation Protection Institute), one should primarily be cautious of blåbetong due to the risk of it emitting radon.
There are no studies that clearly show it is dangerous for humans to be exposed to such low levels of radiation as blåbetong emits.
According to SSI's reasoning, residents in a blåbetong house can be maximally exposed to a radiation dose of 5mS per year. This should be compared to nuclear power plant workers, who can be exposed to a maximum of 50mS per year. The fact is, one is exposed to more or less radiation all the time, from the ground, surrounding houses, mobile phones, etc...
In any case.
The near future (that is, until we get an answer on what measures the seller plans to take to correct the radon problem) will determine whether we complete the house purchase or not.
Best regards, MadMax
Heard somewhere, unfortunately can't remember where, that there is a wallpaper to put on blue lightweight concrete to reduce the radon levels. Interesting as it is difficult to address other than with increased ventilation. Surely requires that penetrations for electricity etc. are sealed in some way as well.
We bought a house a year ago under exactly the same conditions. However, we had slightly higher radon levels because some of it came from the ground. We resolved this by reducing the purchase price to be able to install a new ventilation system. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit more expensive than estimated, about 80000, and for some reason, we had capped the amount at 50000 when we wrote the contract.
Anyway, we now have a new ventilation system with 90% heat recovery and radon levels below 200bq/m3. The air in the house has also overall become much better, and with an extra summer cassette that doesn't recover heat, it was really cool and comfortable indoors during the few warm nights we had this summer. The unit is a VM2 from www.systemair.se.
Anyway, we now have a new ventilation system with 90% heat recovery and radon levels below 200bq/m3. The air in the house has also overall become much better, and with an extra summer cassette that doesn't recover heat, it was really cool and comfortable indoors during the few warm nights we had this summer. The unit is a VM2 from www.systemair.se.
No, that's true, but what I meant is that it's still radiation and there's a lively discussion about whether radiation from mobile phones etc. can also cause cancer.
I've also read about this while surfing around for information on this. However, I don't have any details on how they work and what they cost (it's not entirely impossible that they're very expensive and really ugly)... :-/
Interesting reading also from zerre. If we decide to buy this house, we'll make sure to regulate in the purchase contract that the seller covers the costs for measures to ensure that the radon levels fall below 200Bq/m3 of air. I've understood that it can be difficult to implement correct measures before a long-term measurement has been conducted (we've only done a 1-week measurement) and after a thorough investigation of the cause or causes of the radon problem (it could be combinations of ground and building radon).
I will definitely check out systemair.se.