Kick back and get ready to dive into a juicy conversation about the wild world of hiring contractors, with Eric G and John Dudley leading the charge. These two seasoned pros dish out everything you need to know about navigating the often murky waters of contractor hiring. Think of it as your personal guide to avoiding all the potential pitfalls—like hiring that one guy who thinks he can fix your leaky roof with duct tape and a prayer. We’ll cover the essentials: how to find a contractor who doesn’t vanish like a magician, the red flags to watch out for, and the magical world of contracts that might as well be written in ancient hieroglyphics. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about price; it’s about finding someone who you can trust to not turn your home into a construction site version of a horror movie. Eric and John’s banter will keep you entertained while they drop some serious knowledge. Stick around, because the second half of the show takes a sharp turn into the realm of radon with expert Dallas Jones. We’re talking about that sneaky little gas that you can’t see or smell but could be lurking in your home like an unwanted guest. Dallas breaks down the science behind radon, why it’s suddenly the hot topic in home safety, and what you can actually do about it. You’ll leave with a clearer picture of why testing is crucial, how mitigation systems work, and why ignoring radon could be the biggest mistake you make this year. So grab your headphones and get ready to transform your home improvement knowledge from zero to hero!

Takeaways:

1. Hiring contractors can be a wild rollercoaster ride, so buckle up and be prepared for some unexpected twists and turns in the process.
2. Don't just assume your radon mitigation system is working forever; regular checks are like checking if your ex is still stalking you – necessary and potentially life-saving!
3. If you're in the trades, you're probably earning more than your college-educated friends who are still trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives.
4. Having a solid understanding of radon and its implications can save lives, so don't wait for your home inspector to remind you – take charge of your family's safety today!
5. Schools are failing to prep kids for the trades, leaving them to drown in student debt while Starbucks is hiring; it's time to rethink the education system's priorities.
6. The conversation about radon is crucial, not just for homeowners but for everyone, so let's stop sweeping it under the rug like that one pile of laundry we all pretend doesn't exist.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. aroundthehouseonline.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. Paramount Plus
2. HGTV
3. MTV
4. Eagle Hardware and Garden

Thanks for listening to Around the house if you want to hear more please subscribe so you get notified of the latest episode as it posts at https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/listen

If you want to join the Around the House Insider for access to the back catalog, Exclusive Content and a direct email to Eric G and access to the show early https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/support

We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

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Foreign.

Welcome to around the House with Eric G. Your trusted source for all things home improvement.

Whether you're tackling a DIY project, hiring it out, or just trying to keep your home running smoothly, you're in the right place.

With over 30 years of remodeling experience, certified kitchen designer Eric G takes you behind the scenes with expert advice, industry trends, and the latest innovations for your home.

Home.

It's everything you need to know without the fluff.

Now let's get this show started with our host, Eric G. And John Dudley.

Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

I'm Eric G. And John Dudley.

Good to see you, my friend.

What's happening, brother?

Man, it is our last show of the year and today, man, I wanted to highlight some of our best of episodes, the ones that really just knocked out of the park for all the new people out there that are just tuning in for the first time so we can share a little bit of the history of the show, man.

Yeah.

Cool.

We have got some great stuff coming around and our first one here is something where you and I are sitting down talking about how to hire a contractor and you and I have something to say about that.

Usually that always can be a very long conversation with the two of us.

It's always fun, my friend.

Well, let's jump out to it.

This is from last September.

And then later on the show we're going to be talking with Dallas Jones about asbestos.

So let's get this party started.

We have got back in the studio today, John Dudley co hosting a little bit here.

Thanks for coming back on, brother.

Yeah, man, thanks for having me.

Always a good time, man.

You and I go way back.

And funny story, this last week I was on.

I sent you the message, Johnny.

And you probably know what I'm going to talk about here.

I was back on Paramount Plus, Right.

The streaming service.

And I went, I wonder if that HDTV show I did 20 plus years ago is on there.

And I'm like, I hope not, but it is.

And yeah, it's on there.

And, oh, me and Kevin, you were working and trying to get through an HGTV show called Designer Finals.

Yeah, and we were in Denver.

We had the people from MTV Real World that were the producers.

So they were trying to like make up all this magic, right?

Just not the hot chicks from Real World, just the producers for the producers.

And so they had just left that whole thing and showed up there.

There was like six of them because they were trying to.

Okay, we're going to put all these people on doing this across the country.

And so they were trying to do that.

And the funny part was I've been following Pen Holderness on social media for five years, laughing at what him and his wife do.

And I forgot that he was the host of the show and I'm like, ah, that's why I liked him.

I worked with him.

Yeah, shows you how long ago that was.

And he looks like a little kid and so do I.

But pretty funny going back on the way back machine there and seeing what I was doing 20 years ago.

And as my friends and social media posted.

Oh, it's baby Eric.

Cute.

Yeah, man, it was a trip.

I see you every day pretty much.

So yeah, that wasn't a shock.

But seeing Kevin in that shot, I.

Was like, oh, wow.

That was a time.

Yeah.

They had tried to produce this show and my friend Brianne, who I'd worked with for years, she was the designer going through the program.

And the crazy part was that when they went through that, they were trying to get me to make her cry because they wanted to make her the weak new designer.

And I'm like, no, I'm not making my friend cry.

Sorry.

And if you want me to leave, I can go.

But guess what?

I'm not getting paid for this.

So I production.

Yeah, make somebody look bad, make somebody cry.

We need the drama.

Come on.

No way, no way.

So not doing it, not doing it.

And yeah, it's one of those things that I stuck my foot in the sand.

I went, no.

And they set it up.

They called the tile guy and made him show up a week a day late and you're supposed to be there on a one day and they held him off.

So a lot of cool stuff going on there.

So gross.

It's just tv.

It's what it is on that stuff.

And that was a long time ago too.

That's 20 plus years ago today.

I wanted to talk about getting people into the trades.

I think it's a great conversation because we've got so many issues out there with people that are really having some issues.

You've got these kids going into college getting their humanities degrees and spending six figures and then I see them working Starbucks drive through and they're 100 grand in the hole because they paid for a college education that they can't use.

And if they would have turned around and joined the electricians union and they'd already be a licensed electrician and making six figures and not have the college debt.

It's crazy.

It's crazy.

And of course, all of our school districts, there's some great ones out there, but all of our school districts have really done such a poor job of getting kids ready to not go to college, to go into the trades.

They've all been the big business of the college education.

They've been really pushing them into that.

But they shut down all the wood shops, the metal shops, the welding.

Are there plenty of school districts out there that are on the right path?

Yeah, we had Chris Higginbotham on the show, oh, a month and a half ago, and they've been.

For 50 years, they've been teaching kids how to build homes.

And every year they build one home, and that's over here in Forest Grove, Oregon.

But at the same time, you look in at Portland public schools in my area here, and guess what?

They've pretty much taken all the wood shop classes out.

And so all those things are gone.

It's just insane that.

To fault that piece of education.

And I'll bring up my little brother, who's a great example.

The kid's a brilliant genius software engineer, programmer.

Kid could put rockets on the moon.

But ask him to get you a Phillips screwdriver and he doesn't know which one that is.

Ask him to change the light bulb.

He's like, how do you do that?

Like, seriously.

Now he's grown up, he's 40 now, but when he was 15, 16, he didn't know even up till into his 30s, he'd be like, I don't know how to do that.

There's so many life skills you learn within the trades and also just being around, especially when you're young, being around grown men, that you can find a lot of good examples of integrity and pride in your work and just some foundational things that I think we need as human beings.

Let's get back to building fires almost.

It doesn't.

You don't have to stick there, but man.

Yeah, just the basics.

For example, here in Columbia, they require you go to two years in the military at least.

Okay, cool.

Send them to two years of trade school or give them a choice or something.

Go to a votech and learn how to roof or learn how to carpenter or something, man.

It's so invaluable.

And the sense of, of pride is the reward.

Like when you complete something, you build something with your own two hands.

Like it changes you as a person instead of just pushing buttons and letting the computer do it for you.

Or.

No, no, you got my point.

Yeah, blah, blah.

Yeah, no Question, man.

And that's the awesome thing is you look at it and there's so many places that are doing great.

There's school districts around here, you know, that, that really do a great job.

But then I look at these other big ones and you know, down in south of here in a little town called Sweet Home, these guys have a self sustaining shop program.

So they have kids that are learning how to be loggers.

They have logging companies donating wood trees to the wood shop.

They have their own mill, so they cut their own wood.

So there's no cost to entry for the kids getting into the wood shop program to learn how to build something.

So cool.

It's so cool.

I was over there one time with Blake Manley and he was the guy that was running this.

It was so cool to watch this happen.

I'm watching these kids walking across.

What are they doing?

They're teaching them how to climb trees and power poles.

Nice.

And they've got their rigs and they're running across and they're next to the football stadium.

I'm like, okay, super cool.

I love this.

And we just need to be doing this in every single school district instead of worried about getting kids into these degrees that unfortunately they're just going to be working at Chipotle or Starbucks with them.

Yeah.

My little brother went to four years of college through anthropology.

Told me the last time he dug up a bone.

Yeah, Maybe chasing the dog out in the yard, but that's about it, right?

Yeah.

Now, getting into the trades saved my life, man.

Like, I was a disaster as a teenager.

Absolutely.

I tell you what, some of the, before we go out to break here, some of the women out there that are in the trades, I tell you what, I have friends, friends that are female woodworkers that run circles around me and their skill.

Yeah.

It's just insane out there.

And the diversity now is so cool to watch.

Yeah, it's nice.

It's super cool.

Hey, when we come back, we're going to talk more about getting kids in the trades and what we can do to make that change.

And that way things are more affordable for you out there.

Because I tell you what, right now those wages are going up and up and that means every time that you hire them for your house, that's getting more expensive.

We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

Don't change that dial.

To find out more about the around the House show, check us out@aroundthehouse online.com or your favorite podcast player.

Welcome back to the around the house show.

This last show of the year landed on Eric G's birthday.

So we decided to give him the weekend off.

Welcome back to the around the house show.

The next generation of home improvement.

I'm Eric G. And then here we got Johnny D.

I need a little bell to ring or something.

Absolutely.

I want a kazoo.

Okay, we got sound effects.

We'll see what we can do for you here.

And Johnny and I, we go back 20 something years.

We played in a band together.

We've.

I was his kitchen a bath designer when he was a contractor.

So we've been through the trenches on this stuff.

Yeah, man.

And what got you sucked into the trays in the first place?

You know, it's funny.

So I grew up working with my dad on stuff.

I watched this old house as a kid, first season, probably eight.

My dad was cool.

He got a hold of the TV station there in Boston and had out the plan shipped out so I could follow him on the.

Sitting on the floor in front of the tv, front of that big wood console tv watching stuff.

And I got away through that and we had a great time working on projects.

You know, we did a lot of stuff.

So what we did is we did a lot of remodeling, worked on cars.

My dad and I were just super cool that way.

But my jam was playing music or working on radio.

And so I took radio TV production and didn't get back into the trades until after taking some community college.

And I actually busted my knee up and they went, hey, you want to be a kitchen designer over there in the kitchen design department since you're in a wheelchair and you're going to be in that for a bit with your ACL surgery.

And I'm like, sure.

I took architectural classes in college and high school.

It sounds fun.

So sure enough, started doing that.

And I made a killing in the early 90s working for this chain called Eagle Hardware and Garden.

I was making in the 90s with commissions.

I was making 70, 80,000 bucks a year in the Tri Cities in eastern Washington.

Lowe's ended up buying them out, but you made commission.

And so I was out there selling cabinet packages to, like, schools that were getting remodeled and was cranking out stuff, made a ton of money.

And that's the road that I went down.

And it worked out really well.

And I would have been just.

I don't know what I would have, what kind of trouble I would have gotten into if I hadn't learned all that stuff.

I took welding, I took all the different trade stuff.

I technically have my degree in autobody, so I could learn how to work on hot rods, but that was not what I was trying to do.

I just wanted to do radio.

I could make a dollar more at McDonald's cooking fries than I could working on radio in eastern Washington.

So I was like, okay, this is not the career for living.

I've lived a great life so far.

Halfway through it with all the cool things that you could do as a kitchen of bath designer.

And 35 years later after that, I'm happy I did.

But man, I tell you what, I'm watching kids now that are starting to get into H vac and electrical and framing and plumbing and tile setting and concrete work.

And if I had done that back then, I'd probably have even more money in my back pocket right now.

Probably made some better decisions along the way because I'd had the money to do it.

Yeah, My little brother Joey.

Yeah.

So one's a genius software engineer.

And then Joey gets into the insulators union.

Yeah.

Wrapping pipes at SeaTac Airport and things like that.

And he's just a hustler.

This little kid used to wake me up when he was.

He must have been 10 when he started to go.

Going to work with me on remodels.

Yeah, he was just jacked up every day, man.

He'd come wake me up, he's, I got the lunches packed, let's go, let's rock.

I'm like, this kid is in.

Where does this come from?

From a 10 year old.

And yeah, man, he got into the trades.

And at 35 years, he's been running crews since he was 27 now.

Yeah, got his own work truck, got an RV, got a big farms worth a million bucks.

Got two kids and a wife, not a care in the world.

Fully vested, gonna have a decent pension like at 35 years old.

Yeah, that's crazy.

You're just getting out of med school.

Yeah, yeah, it's crazy.

And living a good life.

And so I just feel bad for the kids out there.

And really there's such a great program, especially with the unions that you've got out there.

There's trade schools out there you can do as well.

There's so many great programs out there for people to get into this stuff.

And I remember Handyman Bob, who was the precursor to me on this show.

He was the one of the OGs of around the house here.

And he.

For a year, it was.

Or year plus, about a decade ago, it was around the house with Handyman Bob and Eric G. And he handed the torch to me.

And 37 years later, the show's still going on.

But he was at a trades thing and in the Portland public schools here in Oregon, where we are, showed up and the.

It was a trades day at the high school in.

The principal introduced the plumber and said, all right, kids, if you don't do great in school, you're not gonna be.

You could always be a plumber like this guy.

And introduced him that way.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, he's son of a gun.

Yeah.

Yes.

Actually, the guy gets up on stage, from what I was told, principal's making.

A third of what that plumber's making, by the way.

He comes up and goes, hey, I got a boat, I got a big house, I got all this stuff.

I make twice as much as your principal.

So you want to get into education, you don't really want to do much.

You can always be a principal to high school and deal with kids like you.

Or you could go out on the river and go skiing with me.

Sweet.

And just tore him right back down again.

But it was way to own it, man.

That's awesome.

Yeah, that's how you and I would have handled it, too.

I'd have been like, oh, really?

All right, game on.

Here we go.

Let's talk principal.

Ah, geez.

I'd have schooled that principal.

That have been good.

That have been good.

But that's our problem that we have in so many of these schools is the.

I always call it the big business of a college education.

We gotta have doctors, we gotta have all that stuff out there.

We could have scientists.

Totally get it.

But every kid does not need to go to College.

Yeah, there's 30 or 40% of those people.

I like what they do in Europe.

I know some kids in Europe over there.

And I'm not going to get into the countries and the politics and all that stuff because we don't do that here.

But in some of those European countries, they come up and they look at your test scores and go, you're not going to be a scientist.

You're not going to be a brain surgeon.

So why don't we put that effort into you being just an amazing tradesperson and make as much as they do.

How do you feel about welding, son?

How do you feel about welding?

Yeah, and nothing wrong with that, but I think that they're actually way ahead of where we are because in today's age, and I'm hopeful with our Gen Z kids out there, you younger guys out there that are listening to the show right now, I tell you what, you got something going good here.

You see it.

These kids are now listening to vinyl records or listening to the radio again and they're really staying focused.

They're not getting into.

Some of them are having landline phones and not using their cell phone as much.

And I'm like, wow, we're going back to the 80s and the early 90s.

Kind of cool to see that happening.

Which means these are also the kids that are probably going to learn how to use their hands.

And that's I think part of the issue is part of it's geographical.

Let's get down to that for a second, right?

You grew up in Issaquah and you tell your classmates you want to be a hot roofer.

Yeah.

They're like, oh, I'm going to be a Boeing exec or I'm going to be an engineer, an architect.

And there's always been a bit of that stigma.

I'll never forget one of my good friends Carrie was, we went to junior high school together.

He became a hedge fund guy and capital management and we bought some rentals together and worked on these rentals together.

He was one of the hard workingest son of a ever met because he was raised that way in Louisiana.

But I never forget, man, one day his wife said to me, I can't believe he's out there doing that stuff with you.

It's just, it's so blue collar.

And I was like, what does that make me, woman?

What a up there blondie.

But that's the stigma, right?

To find out more about the around the House show, check us out at aroundthe house online.com or your favorite podcast player.

Stick around.

We will be right back.

Welcome back to the around the House Show.

Today is Eric G's birthday so we gave him the weekend off.

To find out more or to send us a message, visit our website@aroundthehouseonline.com Next up, Eric G discusses a huge problem across the U.S. now let's talk Ray on with Dallas Jones.

We had a request that came in asking about radon and it's something that we haven't talked about in this show for a couple years and they were right we were missing something.

And you know something, I brought in one of the leading experts out there, if not the leading expert in my opinion and my friends in the industry.

Dallas Jones, welcome to around the House, brother.

Thanks for having me, man.

You are one of the gurus out there because you have been doing this and really leading the charge with getting people to pay attention to this radioactive gas that nobody can see, smell, or just notice around their home.

It's been a long time.

A lot of experience.

No kidding.

And in Oregon, where I live here, for instance, and this is what really gets homeowners and the show goes across the country, but in our area here, as part of a real estate sale, you have to have radon testing as part of the closing process.

So that is it, which is cool.

But the problem is we don't really have a great industry here.

Nobody knows if it's good.

Nobody can give any promises if it's going to work.

And so homeowners, at least in my area, and this is where I think this came from, get very confused about what is radon?

Will a mitigation system work and how do you know if it's working?

Mitigation systems do work and.

But they have to be verified that they're working.

And you can't just assume once they're installed, they're going to work on and on year after year.

Part of the issue is with a real estate transaction, we're limited to a very short time window.

The home inspector and the buyer has a certain period that they're allowed to inspect the house.

And so the radon test is just for two or three days typically.

And while if it's done properly and it's done without any tampering or cheating on behalf of, say, a seller or an agent, then it, it can be a good test for that time period.

But radon fluctuates from day to night, from season to season, and you're just getting a very short time window for that test.

If it comes back elevated, then you can be reasonably assured that it's a wise move to go ahead and get it mitigated.

But if it doesn't come back elevated, you can't necessarily conclude that it isn't elevated other times of the year.

It's good if you have the ability to, to monitor over a longer period.

Makes sense.

Makes sense.

They had the, they had a bathroom fan had been left on accidentally, I think.

I'm not putting anybody in there, but I'm like, okay, that could skew the test.

So I turned it off.

And you think about it, especially when you start getting into newer homes that have lots of ventilation or new homes that have ERVs, HRVs, all these different things that are moving air around, it can be doing things like sucking up, creating a vacuum inside the house, or putting a pressure, which could always change that, it seems.

Yeah, it's the pressure relationship between the house and the soil that allows radon entry to begin with.

Soil gases are typically drawn into the house because the air pressure inside is a little lower than it is is in the ground.

And so those gases are being sucked in through any, any crack or crevice or hole or whatever to up into the living space.

And that's made worse at certain times of day, depending on the temperature outside versus inside, certain times of year, depending on the same thing.

Or we have warm weather, cold weather, what's the temperature difference between in and out?

And then things like you mentioned, exhaust fans.

So there's this stack effect that is pulling air up from below and exhausting it where it can at the top, all of that can pull soil gases in.

With a mitigation system, what we're trying to do is reverse that airflow.

So they typically install what's called an active soil depressurization system.

And they suck air from underneath the house with a pipe, it says PVC pipe typically, and an inline centrifugal fan.

And it's pulling air out from underneath the building and creating a low pressure zone underneath the footprint.

So that way, any cracks and openings that you can't see or get to, the air is moving from the house down rather than from the ground in.

And if you can maintain that, then you've got a good system.

The part of the issue with just assuming that a mitigation system is working is let's say you have the test done in the spring or the fall when the weather's kind of mild and they, they come and do a mitigation, they put in the system, they do a short two or three day test after the installation, and it looks good for that time period.

And that's because it's maintaining that lower pressure underneath during the time of the test.

But then let's say cold weather, winter comes along and you start to turn on the heat and the Temperature between inside and out is greater, then perhaps that system can be overwhelmed by the stack effect in the house.

During that time of year, it may not be working so well.

So it's really good to have the ability to continuously monitor.

And the great thing is today there are devices out there that are very sophisticated and affordable for homeowners to have that they can monitor their radon over time, either whether it's before they have mitigation to see whether they need to take action at all, or whether it's after mitigation to make sure the system is working.

That makes sense.

And that's a great idea because let's say you put a system in and something happens and you get a crack on the other side of the house from the mitigation system in the concrete floor, let's say something happens, you get a crack, then all of a sudden maybe that's not pulling all the way over there because especially when things are retrofitted many times they, they didn't plan for a mitigation system.

So there's at best some gravel, hopefully and concrete.

I've seen them pour it right on dirt and hard to create a vacuum when it's dirt on the concrete.

Right.

You have to be, you have to be a little more conscious of your, of how to create that vacuum when you don't have gravel.

For example, I live in north Georgia in the north Atlanta area.

And a lot of the older houses are built on red clay, same kind of thing.

And it's not very susceptible to airflow unless you find where you can get airflow.

For example, around the footings at the perimeter, they dug out and then they back filled to pour those footings.

And oftentimes there'll be some settling underneath the slab over time.

So then if you can put your suction points on those along those walls where you can take advantage of that airspace, then you can, you can extend that pressure field down to the opposite corners.

Sometimes it takes multiple suction points in order to do that.

Makes sense.

If you were to, if you were.

To talk to people who tested during mitigation, I bet you could, or excuse me, tested during their real estate purchase when they bought their home and they had a mitigation system put in.

Or even if they didn't, they tested during that time, they tested after the mitigation.

Things came back looking good for that two day test and they forget about radon.

Sure, I'm done with it.

And it could be 20 years later and they still think everything's just fine and like you mentioned, there's so many things that can cause changes in the structure.

Earthquake activity.

There's a huge one.

Blasting.

Oh yeah, blasting.

Because there's construction going on nearby and they're doing blasting.

Or you have extended period of unusual drought.

To find out more about the around the House show, check us out at aroundthe house online.com or your favorite podcast player.

Stick around.

Welcome back to this special episode of around the House.

Now let's get back to Eric G. Discussing radon with Dallas Jones.

They tested, after the mitigation, things came back looking good for that two day test and they forget about radon.

Sure, I'm done with it.

And it could be 20 years later and they, they still think everything's just fine.

And like you mentioned, there's so many things that can cause changes in the structure.

Earthquake activity.

There's a huge one, right?

Blasting.

Oh yeah, blasting.

Because there's construction going on nearby and they're doing blasting.

Or you have extended period of unusual drought.

Or you decide to put in a new heating and air conditioning system which can have an impact.

Or you do some renovations.

Yeah.

Some pumps in the basement can change things, right?

Yeah.

Or you have to dig out because of the, the plumbing coming in from the street is old and they have to replace it.

So they trench and, and backfill and maybe there now there's a new entryway.

So all those things can cause changes and if you don't keep an eye on it, then you just never know.

So really for most people it's just smart to, if you've got a system, make sure that you have somebody coming out to maintain it and take a look at it.

But really self testing seems to be the way to, to have it safe.

Is there really a safe right on level?

I know there's.

You should mitigate at this point, but is it like anything else that's bad, you probably shouldn't have any.

If you can get away with it.

It's difficult to not have any because there's a little background right on concentration, even outside.

The reason it's not harmful outside is because it comes out of the soil and dilutes into the atmosphere rapidly.

And we're not breathing much of that at all.

But when it can get into the house, it can build up to a level that we're breathing.

And it's been demonstrated over and again, with not just minor studies, but lots of residential studies, not just in the United States, but all over the world, that it has a direct connection to increased risk of lung cancer.

So the four picocurie per liter action level here in the United States was not set because it was considered to be a safe point.

It was years ago when they set that it was considered to be an achievable concentration that our mitigation technology could consistently reduce levels to below 4 picocuries per liter.

But they'll tell you when they look at the epidemiology data that there's a sizable portion of these lung cancers that occur to exposures of less than 4 picocuries per liter.

Any reduction in the concentration is reduction in risk.

If you read the EPA guidance carefully, it'll say if you test your home and the concentrations on average are 4 picocuries per liter or higher.

Fix the home.

If it's between 2 and 4 picocuries per liter, consider fixing the home.

Yeah.

If you're a home buyer and you're negotiating with the seller and the concentrations are between 2 and 4, you may not be able to negotiate having them mitigate the house at their expense, but you, you may really want to take a look at it over a longer period of time and see whether you want to go ahead and mitigate it for the health and well being of your family.

Yeah, good point, Good point.

Because really that should be your.

Probably your next renovation on your brand new house is just making sure that it's safe because.

Yeah, absolutely.

And in my area here in, across the country, it's always interesting when I watch some of the maps out there and I'm not going to name any, but I see ones that are, this is red, this is orange, this is yellow.

And in my area, I'm between the orange and red depending, and it's county by county, which doesn't really tell you much, but at least it says, hey, you should be testing in this area, but really everywhere you, you run a risk, don't you?

At least that's my opinion.

I'm curious to see what your professional opinion.

Yeah, that's a good point, Eric.

Unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of radon test data at the time, so they used an algorithm that included a lot of factors, not just radon data.

It included housing types, it included aerial radiation mapping like the military does when they just fly over and measured the radiation coming off the ground.

It included multiple factors that they put into this formula to help predict where it would be most likely to have elevated radon concentrations over time.

But there are exceptions.

And even if.

Even with that map, if you look at the fine print at the bottom, it says that the map was not intended for you to decide whether or not you should test.

It was intended to help focus resources to the areas of most concern first and then work their way down.

And they did away with the zone map distinctions and said, okay, we need to do this anywhere, because an elevated concentration could show up.

And there are states that, if you look at that map, are not red and orange, they're more of that yellow area like Texas and California.

And yet now they've been testing these multifamily projects and.

And guess what?

They're finding radon in Texas and California.

It's real easy to say there's no radon in certain areas when there are no tests going on.

Once you start testing, you find buildings and residences that are elevated.

The only way to know is to test.

Yeah, just a year ago, here in my metro area, here in.

In the Portland metro area, we had a fire department that had to close because of extreme radon that was in the fire department because they tested it.

Yeah, there have been.

There was a prison up in the Northeast that they discovered that all the inmates were on the ground level, were getting exposed to some very high concentrations of radon.

So the more you look for it, the more you're going to find.

The good news is it's easy and for the most part, and fairly inexpensive to mitigate.

And as long as you mitigate and then keep an eye on that mitigation to make sure it continues to work, then that's one of the health concerns that you just don't need to worry about anymore.

You've got it under control and you're keeping an eye on it.

In some areas of the country, it could be that way, perhaps in Oregon.

I know it's that way.

Here in the Southeast, we've got a humid climate in the summer, for example, and a lot of lower levels.

Whether It's a basement or over a crawl space or even slab on grade.

You're getting moisture coming in from the soil as well that can contribute to that indoor humidity.

And the soil depressurization systems not only can keep the radon from entering, they'll keep that moisture and other soil gases from entering the home.

The technology that we use for radon mitigation is being used all over the country now, actually all over the world for vapor intrusion mitigation for chemical vapors.

It's the same exact technology.

They're putting it in large buildings from the very beginning when they built construct them on these sites that were.

Perhaps they were gas stations at one time, or they manufactured various things.

Just right up from me.

There's an old General Motors assembly plant that sat empty for a long time because they didn't know they could build anything on it because it was such a contaminated site.

They finally cleared everything off and they installed the soil depressurization systems in all the buildings to prevent vapors from coming in.

And now it's become a large movie studio set.

All right, I know which one you're talking about.

Yeah, very cool.

Exactly.

And that's amazing.

And I'm seeing that more.

And I wish we could could get the new construction building community out there to think about prepping the ground before they pour that slab on.

Great.

I watch in Phoenix, for instance, I had a buddy that I worked with in the radio industry.

He built a house down there.

And he's up, concrete's pouring, and the truck's there, and they're pouring right over the top of the desert earth.

And it's just what they do there.

That is the common practice.

But in my head, I'm going to.

That's gonna be pretty tough to mitigate that because it's a slab on grade and just a mono pour.

And I'm like, that's really not gonna.

Really not gonna give you a lot of options if you had an issue down the road.

There was.

There were.

There was a time when we thought that the best thing to do was to put gravel underneath the slab.

And that's still a great idea.

And to make sure that you've got some connection between any footings from one section to the next where you can draw air across the footprint with your suction.

There are sites where they're putting these systems in and then they're testing the building after.

And if they need to, then they activate the systems by putting in line fans and all that's good.

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