Can You Smell Radon? – Myth #12

Today we’ve got a myth about radon we want to address that we hear every once in a while: Can you smell radon? Some people say you can, but that’s a myth.

What is Radon?

Radon is an odorless, colorless soil gas. Different parts of the country experience higher or lower levels of radon in their soil, so depending on where you live, you may need to check for radon.

Keep in mind that anybody that’s telling you that you can smell a radon issue in order to sell a product is very likely lying to you.

Why Does My Crawl Space Smell?

If you’ve noticed smells in your crawl space, radon is not the cause. However, there are several other soil gases that come from the crawl space, such as methane and VOCs, that do have an odor.

You could also be having smells in your crawl space due to mold, rodents and pests, or organic debris left in the crawl space.

How To Address Radon In The Crawl Space

So what do you do if you have a radon problem in your crawl space?

One thing we hear on occasion is some people recommend putting crawl space vapor barrier down to prevent radon. Well, crawl space vapor barrier is a vapor (moisture) barrier, not a gas barrier.

Crawl space vapor barrier has the potential to reduce the amount of soil gas that makes its way into your crawl space, but it certainly will not prevent it. So just like how you still need a dehumidifier in your crawl space to control humidity, you also need some type of radon mitigation system or ventilation installed to prevent soil gas build up.

We always recommend checking with your local building code when it comes to addressing soil gases. Every state has more or less strict requirements with it comes to radon mitigation.

We hope this information was helpful to you! Be sure to read some of our other myths that we’ve covered in this series and let us know what you think.

2 thoughts on “Can You Smell Radon? – Myth #12”

  1. CHARLES D VAUGHAN

    There is a smell coming from the crawl and is coming into the HVAC vents. It is a musty smell but also a chemical smell. We had our crawl space encapsulated five years ago. A very good dehumidifier was installed which keeps the humidity at 50%. I actually caulked around the sill plate and the concrete foundation. They used bubble wrap looing material glued to the walls which I guess reflects air inside crawl. An HVAC guy installed a vent to the crawl to put same air there as is in the house. White Visqueen covers the floor and is attached to the wall covering. @0 years ago I installed an inside drain tile along the upper three walls. Did the same outside those walls to run any water away from walls. The dirt did not smell good. Crawl dirt was soil looking when it was wet. When it dried it was sandier looking and also very hard. HVAC has been cleaned twice. I put in your Lamanco fan but was told by HVAC tech that crawl should be totally enclosed. I have done all I know to do. I’ve had two HVAC techs, Two encapsulation companies, all at a cost of over $12,000.00 for a 50×25 foot one story rancher. Considering this whole picture, is there anything you can recommend to get rid of the odors, stop odor from being in HVAC ducting, and getting our house nice to breathe in again. I’ve got the building inspector coming Tuesday. I found out that the encapsulation company did not have a permit to encapsulate. Looking at a different encapsulation company that has a good reputation, but they said I needed to get building inspector to look at it. Please offer some help. Please!

    1. The musty smell is usually an indication of mold, have your building or home inspector do mold sampling in the crawl space and HVAC ducts to see if mold is present. The chemical smell may be from the plastic or other material they installed. Some home inspectors can also check for VOCs (chemical odors) off gassing. Sometimes the plastic can also be a huge cause of odors. Here is an interview I did with a couple that did everything they could to remove smells from their crawl space, great ideas in this interview that may help. https://youtu.be/mmrF6HWxLjQ

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