Modeling Radon Entry into Houses with Basements: The Influence of Structural Factors

Abstract

Where indoor concentrations are high, radon entry into houses with basements is usually due primarily to the convective transport of soil gas through openings in the subsurface part of the building shell. The factors determining the rate of entry may conveniently be divided into those associated with the undisturbed soil and those associated with the structure and its surroundings. This paper uses a numerical model to determine the influence of the latter factors on the soil gas and radon entry rates. The most important of these is the presence or absence of a gravel layer below the slab; the presence of the gravel can increase the radon entry rate through the perimeter gap betureen the foundation footer, slab, and wall (slab-footer gap) by as much as a factor of 5 over that for homogazeous soil. The permeability of the gravel becomes important when the soil permeability is unusually high, i.e., greater than 10⁻¹⁰ m². Of lesser importance are the thickness of the gravel layer and the radium content of the gravel. The sizes and numbers of openings in the slab are relatively unimportant so long as the total opening area is vey small compared to the slab area. If cracks in the basement walls are major radon entry paths, as in concrete-block construction, the permeability of the soil restored to the region adjacent to the walls after completion of construction (backfill) is the determining factor in convective radon entry through these openings; if the soil is packed loosely, so that there is a gap between wall and soil, radon entry through a wall crack may be further increased by as much as a factor of 7.5. Radon entry rates through the slab-footer gap and through openings in the slab are only weakly influenced by the permeability of the backfill. The resistance of the perimeter gap to soil gas entry becomes significant when the gap width falls below 0.001 m, assuming a soil permeability of 10⁻¹¹ m².