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Is it correct for air to flow into home from under an addition?

Home Improvement Asked by user35358 on December 20, 2020

I have seen multiple houses sitting on concrete basements or slabs where additions were added on to the house in the 1970s-80s and air flows directly from under the addition to inside the house. The additions are not on concrete slabs, they appear to be just on piles with a crawlspace between the floor of the addition and the dirt below. Air then seems to get sucked from the crawlspace into the house when the furnace runs.

Is this the correct way to do an addition? Would it be better to pour a concrete slab under the addition which is connected to the concrete slab the rest of the house sits on, and build on that? Would that eliminate this air flow?

There is high radon around here and it always concerned me that the air sucked in from under the addition probably results in much higher radon levels inside the house.

2 Answers

Radon emitted from soil can pass through concrete quite easily. Furthermore, concrete and other earth products themselves can emit radon as well.

The fresh air vent coming from under an addition will not be any better with or without a concrete pad if the radon source is not properly mitigated.

If you have a concern for radon exposure in your home the only practical solution is to have your home professionally tested and mitigated if necessary.

Answered by psaxton on December 20, 2020

Perhaps what you are seeing are three-season porches. Which don't need foundations or basements.

Radon typically comes in through the foundations...it's in the earth....it isn't floating around in our air.

Although there are all kinds of 'studies' relating Radon to deaths and diseases, I don't believe there is a death certificate anywhere where the cause of death is Radon.

Answered by Steve Wellens on December 20, 2020

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