<p>Our older house (circa 1892) has a challenging basement to work with - finished furnace area in the middle with very short crawl spaces on either side. This created a design challenge for radon mitigation. The first quote I tried to get from Radon Company A ended with the man telling me that he didn't have anyone on his team who could fit in our crawl space, and he didn't feel that he could guarantee getting our radon levels down far enough due to our difficult layout.</p> <p>John Seidel, from Radon Be Gone, looked at our unique situation as a challenge to be conquered, rather than an insurmountable problem. He came up with a creative design, and guaranteed that he would get us below 4 pc/L or he would keep coming back. Scheduling the service was very easy and the office proved to be flexible in working around the other remodeling activities that were happening.</p> <p>The beautiful feeling I had for this company dissipated when the technicians walked in to install the system. They barely said hello as they marched down to the basement to begin work. A grunt "no" was the response I got when I asked if they needed me to do anything for them, so I steered clear. By noon, things really didn't seem to be going well. The Tech A seemed to be working alone, and I wondered where Tech B had gone and when he would return. After lunch, Tech A returned with a mumbled hello and began work again...alone. Things really didn't seem to be moving along. </p> <p>Around 3 in the afternoon, I started to cook dinner and discovered that the main water line had been turned off. When I went downstairs to see what was happening, I saw a bucket catching drips from our main water line that was indeed shut off. I didn't think that was necessary for installing a radon system! After that, I decided that I was going to have to get Tech A to start talking a little more than grunts. </p> <p>It turns out that his partner had run off the job that morning and he was working alone. (My crawl space must have traumatized him! :-)) I don't have a problem with the worker taking off in the middle of the day. That is not the company's problem. It's the worker's. However, I wish someone had told me, so I could understand what was happening.</p> <p>As Tech A was exiting my very narrow crawl space, he accidentally knelt or stepped on my water pipes, breaking the seal at the valve - hence, the dripping. He hadn't realized that he had turned off my main water source. Once Tech A was aware of the problem, he rushed out to Home Depot, bought the part needed to fix the water problem, and repaired the problem promptly. Then he got back to work on the radon system. I don't blame him for breaking the water pipe. It would be a very easy mistake to make. My big issue was that he didn't tell me that there was a problem!</p> <p>I called John Seidel on his cell phone, and he was good enough to return my message from a conference he was attending in Denver. I told him that I didn't think his man could get the job done alone in one day and that he needed help. John was good about helping to clarify the problem and was very professional.</p> <p>A few days later, Tech A returned with a more dependable Tech C. They almost finished the job and did a better job of communicating their progress to me, but had to leave the outside electrical hookup to another tech on another day. I actually had to specifically request that they vent the radon ABOVE my second story window, a tip that the estimator from Radon Company A had given. The techs looked at me strangely when I made the request, but they complied.</p> <p>A few days later, Techs D and E came to complete the outside electrical hookup. They came earlier than scheduled, and I almost missed them, driving into my driveway just as they were getting ready to pull out in their truck. I ran over and asked if they needed anything. After me asking questions, they came inside the house with me, showed me how the new system worked, and the things I needed to keep my eye on. Why did I have to chase them down for them to do that? Maybe they thought that Techs A and C had already oriented me. I don't know.</p> <p>Techs D and E urged me to test for radon right away. I explained that I wanted to wait until our remodeling job was done and the crawl space was sealed back up. I also wanted to wait until winter, when our house windows were sealed with plastic and the ground was covered with frost (another tip from Radon Company A). Techs D and E commented that I really would be better off testing right away. Why did they say that? It makes no sense to test for radon in a house that can't be closed off. Were they afraid that their work wouldn't pass muster?</p> <p>Anyway, I tested this January for radon. The house was sealed and the ground had frosted. Levels were 2.1 in the basement and 2.9 upstairs. Radon Be Gone was successful in mitigating our radon below 4.0 pc/L. However, I think they really need to improve their communication with their customers!<br /> <br /></p> <br />