Quote:
Originally Posted by E Cascade
Just so you know....... granite emits radon. So this craziness about needing granite top counters is just a good sales pitch, but not a healthy one. Homes up in the northeast who have granite foundations or built on granite ledge are known to have radon in their basements and need to have the entire house corrected for it.
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Radon exists in the ground above the granite at the foundation level and not in the granite itself. It will not exist at a granite countertop even though the granite was removed from the ground. One of the ways to decrease the amount of radon in the ground is to install a mitigation system that extends below the floor slab in a house. The system includes installing a pipe down through the slab with a pump producing a suction that will move air through the soil, bringing the radon with it, and exhausting it to the exterior. Doing this continuously will lessen the radon level to a harmless level. When I sold my home in the Chicago Area, the radon tests came back showing a slight elevation of the radon levels, so I had a mitigation system installed for about $1,000. Radon, which is in a gas form, will not exist at a granite countertop because of the amount of air around it. Radon cannot exist within the granite because of the density of the granite and lack of voids within the granite. Much of the granite used in the United States comes from out of the country. In fact, much of it comes from India and South America.