28-Nov-08 0:15 AM CST

Is Your Countertop Making You Sick? Radon in Your Home

When it comes to building or remodeling, GREEN or not, the preference for many years now has been to use granite countertops for their durability and aesthetic qualities. This top choice of architects, designers and homeowners is at the center of ongoing controversy: is naturally occuring Radon in stone making our homes a health hazard? Could it be as simple as avoiding using stone from certain countries?

There is no such list of countries, and never will be. To get to the bottom of this subject, we started by testing the all the stone in our Casa Concept House, 6 months ago, under the pilot program in Houston conducted by the non-profit Build Clean. The tests were negative. It was important to ascertain this, because this GREEN, Energy Star, high efficiency home is built tightly, and Radon or any other gas can and will acumulate in the indoor air.

Is it possible that we are endangering our families by introducing natural stone in our homes? It is.

The best and most recent research on this subject has been done by Rice University Professor W.J. Llope, who published his research in April of 2008. According to Professor Llope,"naturally occurring Uranium nuclei decay into an element called Radium, which produces an unstable gas called Radon. Breathing air that contains radon thus deposits radioactive elements directly into the soft-tissues of the lungs and can cause lung cancer."

Is it possible to test the material before purchasing it? Not easily at the moment, but that time is coming, and it will depend on consumers getting serious about ascertaining that these natural materials don't come from quarries that have a high ocurrance of Radon. The day should come when stone slabs and quarries are tested for Radon before the imported slabs arrive at our ports, given that in this capitalistic nation, if the material is already inside the country, it is bound to show up in some unsuspecting victim's home. .

If you are ready to know if your existing granite or stone countertop or floors are emitting radon ( it is hard to deal with the possibility of having to change your countertops or floors), you can find Radon testing kits in most hardware stores. The kit you chose should state “meets EPA requirements" and should be listed in the National Radon Safety Board's devices list.

As for acceptable concentrations of Radon in your house, Dr. Llope states:"The EPA suggests remediation for radon concentrations exceeding 2 pCi/L, and strongly recommends remediation for concentrations exceeding 4 pCi/L. These administrative limits are our best guide of what levels of exposure are dangerous and what levels aren’t. However, there is no safe amount of radiation or radon."

What can we do if we find the aforementioned levels of Radon in our homes? If you own natural stone countertops, here are some suggestions from Dr. Llope's report: " Ventilate your home as often as possible by opening windows - this exchanges potentially radon-laden air from the inside of your home with essentially radon-free air (at least in the Houston area)
from the outside. The radon concentration in an unventilated volume of air reaches its saturation density in about 27 days - so open your windows for a half-day once every few weeks. Make sure that you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the regular maintenance of your countertops, which typically call for regular resealing of the surface (once per year)."

As for preventive measures for Greening your home, it should be specified in writing to contractorsand/or fabricators that the granite/stone countertops can and should be sealed on all four sides.

Eventhough too much regulation can deter the natural flow of the Green movement or of the economy, when it comes to our collective health, green building equals best practices, and our government needs to protect our people from ending up with high radon stone in their homes. It is simply unsustainable.