Radon wallpaper

[MartinSvensson74]

Hello
The house was built in 1958 from blåbetong, which results in radon in the indoor environment.

Now to my question - Does anyone have experience with radon wallpaper? Does it provide a positive result? If so, how much?

Average value you = 300

We are going to install an ftx system but want to secure our son's room.

Grateful for answers!

 

[henlin431]

The wallpaper itself probably works exceptionally well, but only if the problem stems from the walls and you are sure of this. If you have a combination of soil radon and radon from blåbetong, the effect can be extremely low or non-existent. It's important to keep in mind that walls below ground level are high-risk in terms of moisture since the wallpaper doesn't breathe.

The cost of the wallpaper seems to be relatively low.

Since the installation instructions for radon wallpaper include ensured overlap, I guess it's important to be equally meticulous in other parts of the room to achieve an effect. Where floors meet walls, moldings, and so on. Now, I don't know where the blåbetong is located, but since it likely isn't only in your son's walls, there's a risk that the wallpaper's effectiveness will be quite low.

Another tip (if you suspect soil radon is involved) is to borrow/buy a cheap thermal camera and check for drafts in corners or near baseboards.

If the room has a fresh air vent, sealing between floor/wall and radon wallpaper, the values should decrease.

Please write a follow-up on how it goes. There are many threads where a problem is listed but the final result is not traceable.

If you want specific monitoring of your son's room, buy a radon meter for 1600:- and install it. Then you can track the values over time and also get immediate indications on the meter when it exceeds recommended levels. His room could fall either above or below 300 depending on airflows and other factors.

Lastly, I should mention that the value you have in the house should be considered relatively low. It wasn't many years ago that 400 was the guideline/maximum limit. We've lived with close to 1000 Bq/m3 for 2 years. The previous owners raised their children here and have had values close to 1000 since the early 2000s.

 

[MartinSvensson74]

The wallpaper itself probably works exceptionally well, but only if the problem comes from the walls and you are sure of this. If you have a combination of ground radon and radon from blåbetong, the effect can be extremely low or nonexistent. It's important to keep in mind that walls below ground level are high-risk when it comes to moisture since the wallpaper doesn't breathe.

The cost of the wallpaper seems to be relatively low.

Since the instructions for applying radon wallpaper include ensuring overlap, I guess it's important to be equally careful in other parts of the room to get an effect. Where the floor meets the wall, moldings, and so on. Now, I don't know where the blåbetong is located, but since it's likely not just in your son's walls, there is a risk that the effect of the wallpaper will be quite low.

Another tip (if you think ground radon is involved) is to borrow/buy a cheap thermal camera to ensure there are no drafts in corners or by the skirting boards.

If the room has a fresh air vent, sealing between the floor/wall and radon wallpaper, the values should decrease.

Please write a follow-up on how it goes. There are many threads where a problem is listed but where the end result cannot be traced.

If you want to monitor just your son's room specifically, buy a radon meter for 1600:- and set it up. Then you can track the values over time and even get direct indications on the meter when it exceeds recommended levels. His room could both be above or below 300 depending on airflows and other factors.

Then I can wrap up by mentioning that the value in your house should be seen as relatively low. It wasn't many years ago that 400 was the guideline/maximum limit. We've lived with nearly 1000 Bq/m3 for 2 years. The owners before raised their children here and have had values close to 1000 since the early 2000s.

Thank you so much for the detailed response! I promise to come back with the results.
It feels like we are on the right track to reduce radon levels, and soon the wallpaper will be up, and the purchased radon meter should show good numbers.

Today, 90% of the radon comes from the building material.

 

[MartinP666]

Then I can conclude by mentioning that the value you have in the house should be seen as relatively low. It wasn't many years ago that 400 was the guideline/maximum limit. We have lived with close to 1000 Bq/m3 for 2 years. The previous owners raised their children here and have had values close to 1000 since the early 2000s.

Not to be overly cynical, but many believe that the maximum limit should be lowered to 100 Bq/m3 because 200 is still quite high. That you and the previous owners of your house have had much higher values says absolutely nothing as it could very well be that some of you develop cancer in the future because of this. Not fun but unfortunately true.

 

[Jocke Best]

Now, don't scare anyone unnecessarily, unless all of Sweden is planning to move abroad. With our bedrock, we are situated outdoors between 10-100, in some places already 1000, and outdoors can be considered well-ventilated. Scandinavian houses range from 30 to 200 on average indoors while the world average is 40. That's a lot of houses. Someone living in a house completely without radon has a 0.41% risk of getting lung cancer, while at 200 the risk is 0.53%. These numbers are from the radiation protection authority. We probably have bigger issues to address first. The cheapest and best protection is not to start smoking.

 

[Johnsson 56]

As the instruction for setting up radon wallpaper includes ensured overlap, I guess it's important to be just as careful in other parts of the room to achieve the effect. Where the floor meets the wall, moldings, and so on.

Isn't it that you remove radiation corresponding to the surfaces you apply the wallpaper on?
I mean, it's radiation, not draft or moisture you're trying to stop.

 

[Anton Svensk]

Isn't it the case that you remove radiation corresponding to the surfaces you put the wallpaper on? I mean, it's radiation, not drafts or moisture you're trying to stop

Now, I'm not an expert in the area, but Radon is a gas, and the dangerous part, as I understand it, is inhaling this gas. I haven't heard of radon wallpaper, but from what I can read, it's a gas-tight wallpaper that thus prevents the gas emitted by the blue concrete from entering the living space.

/Anton

 

[K.Karlsson]

I had the same issue you describe and I replaced an old exhaust unit. Installed a new FTX unit and had it adjusted... it wasn't good enough so I did a radon investigation and he adjusted it again and then it finally got better. It's probably difficult to seal in radon with wallpaper or similar, so the best is to have good supply and exhaust ventilation with recovery since there are many liters of air that need to be replaced.

 

[KjellTimell]

I went from 680 Bq/m3 to ~70 Bq/m3 by installing FTX.
Start with ventilation and do an evaluation. IMO radon wallpapers are a waste of money. They surely work in a lab environment, but in practice, it's difficult to make them airtight since you don't apply foil to the floor or ceiling.

 

[arowe17]

As several here have written, radon is a gas that is best ventilated away.

Note that since this summer you can receive up to 25,000:- in grants for radon remediation from Boverket (handled by the County Administrative Board). I have just installed an FTX system and am getting 25,000 in grants on the material cost.

During measurements last winter, we had about 300 bq/m3. I am just about to start the follow-up measurement to see how much effect the FTX system has had.

 

[henlin431]

Not to be overly cynical, but many believe that the maximum limit should be lowered to 100 Bq/m3 because 200 is still quite a lot. The fact that you and the previous owners of your house had much higher values doesn't mean anything, as it could very well be that some of you might develop cancer in the future because of this. Not fun, but unfortunately true.

Now we have adjusted the values (through various measures I've written a long thread about separately) and are around 50 inside and about 150 in the crawl space. I didn't mean to make it sound like we accepted values of 1000 in any way. The goal is probably like with traffic fatalities, that is, to get it down to 0. The problem is that the closer to 0 you get, the more expensive it becomes as the last percentages are particularly difficult to address.

Then a general comment about measurements during the worst time of the year which is, for some reason, called an annual average. It's a bit amusing. You measure during the time of year when everything is most closed up and generally get the absolute worst values. Then it's called an annual average. It feels completely illogical. For over a year now, I've been measuring around the clock and know that during the winter months I'm around 970 while in the summer I'm around 40. It doesn't result in an annual average of over 900, despite the paper I have that shows just that info from the measurement institute.

But of course, it doesn't matter what I think. The guidelines are set.

There's also quite a bit to read about the margin of error on the measuring devices you order home and then send in. Interesting reading for those who want to nerd out a little extra.

Personally, I think it's fantastic to see everyone who is interested in reading/writing about this and participating in discussions. There's a reason why Sweden's municipalities sent out notifications to a huge number of households about radon some time ago.

 

[henlin431]

I went from 680 Bq/m3 to ~70 Bq/m3 by installing FTX. Start with the ventilation and do an evaluation. IMO, radon wallpapers are wasted money. They certainly work in a lab environment, but in practice, it's difficult to seal them properly since you don't foil the floor or ceiling.

I haven't quite grasped the concept of FTX. Several recommend it as a method/sub-method for radon solutions, but there are those who claim that it's not optimal to set the FTX systems with a positive pressure that forces air into the foundation. The solution is, of course, to set it at the threshold so that there is minimal positive pressure in the house.

But what happens during parts of the year when the external pressure increases or decreases? Are you adjusting the system manually, or does it take care of itself automatically?

 

[KjellTimell]

FTX does not vent the foundation; it is a standard mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery. You have exhaust air in the kitchen/wet rooms and supply air in living rooms and bedrooms. One should never have overpressure; it's not about preventing gases from entering but rather ventilating the house so that the gases are diluted, thereby lowering the levels.

As a bonus, you get a better indoor climate, with heat recovery ensuring that the supply air is preheated and comfortable. In older houses with natural ventilation where a heat pump has replaced the oil furnace, the benefits of FTX go beyond just radon remediation.

The difference from regular ventilation according to BBR is that the air turnover is increased to achieve reasonable levels; generally speaking, the higher the turnover, the lower the values. When designing the ventilation with the knowledge that it is for radon, you dimension accordingly. For example, you increase duct dimensions, install more sound dampers, and choose a larger unit that doesn't have to run at maximum speed to exchange more air without making more noise than regular ventilation.

FTX is the primary measure when radon comes from the building material. However, some have succeeded with FTX even with ground radon. If I remember correctly, @Ropia is one who has succeeded with FTX in the case of ground radon.

 

[henlin431]

This means that the system is adjusted to change so much air that the radon eventually reaches sufficiently low levels? But it can become a costly situation if you have to change significantly more air than what would normally be reasonable (all air every two hours). Increased air circulation is likely to increase operating costs if we assume that heat recovery does not occur at 100%?

In the case of radon in the construction, I completely understand the reasoning. The number of alternatives is not very many if the radon is constantly being generated indoors.

 

[Freddy_kruger]

Radon is a gas. If you have radon in the construction, like blåbetong, you can contain the gas with radon wallpaper. On a few occasions, I've worked with radon wallpaper and customers have confirmed that it has yielded results, but I don't have any figures. It is important to be very meticulous, remove moldings, etc., and then seal against the floor and ceiling. Then, you just need to putty and paint/wallpaper on the walls.