Radon Mitigation Systems in Dell Rapids, SD

Call (605) 210-7667 Dell Rapids is 22 miles from Sioux Falls. You hear back from a person, not an autoresponder, within one business day. Call before 3pm on a weekday and it is usually the same afternoon.

Dell Rapids is the clearest illustration of eastern South Dakota radon geology anyone could ask for. Commercial quartzite quarrying started here in 1875 because the bedrock is at or near the surface where the Big Sioux cuts through the Dells. Very little glacial cover, heavily fractured Precambrian rock, and joints that carry soil gas straight up into whatever is built on them.

What we see in Dell Rapids

Main Street was rebuilt in quartzite after a fire and a good share of the older residential stock has quartzite or rubble foundations with slabs poured decades later. Those do not seal like poured concrete. Newer subdivisions toward Highway 115 are conventional. The L.G. Everist quarries and the D&I rail line are still working the same rock.

Practical notes for Dell Rapids homeowners

Old rubble foundations need a diagnostic suction test rather than an assumption about how far the pressure field reaches. Occasionally that means two suction points on one fan, and it is better to find that out before install day.

Radon Mitigation Systems in Dell Rapids: the technical part

On a rubble or quartzite foundation the sealing surface is the problem. Polyurethane bonds well to poured concrete and poorly to loose stone, mortar that has gone soft, and the powdery face of weathered quartzite. Sealing an old Dell Rapids basement means cleaning back to sound material first, sometimes routing a joint open before filling it, and accepting that some perimeter cannot be sealed at all.

What the job looks like in Dell Rapids

Diagnostics first and at length. Test holes in each distinct slab area, vacuum readings at each, and an honest assessment of how much of the perimeter will hold a seal. The system that follows is sized to compensate for what cannot be sealed rather than assuming a tight envelope. Occasionally the right answer is two suction points on one fan.

The ground under Dell Rapids

Commercial quarrying of Sioux Quartzite started here in 1875, and the reason is that the bedrock is at or near the surface where the Big Sioux cuts through the Dells. Very little glacial cover, heavily fractured Precambrian rock, and joints that carry soil gas straight up. If you want to understand why eastern South Dakota is in EPA Radon Zone 1, stand at the Dells and look at the rock face.

Dell Rapids radon questions

My house has a stone foundation. Can it be mitigated at all?

Yes, essentially always. It takes more sealing labour and a larger fan, and the post-mitigation number lands nearer 2 than 0.8, but under 4.0 is achievable and it is what the written guarantee covers.

Is the quartzite itself the source of the radon?

The uranium is in the rock and the overlying glacial material, and the fractures in the quartzite are what let the gas travel. Bedrock near the surface with open joints is the reason the readings here run high.

Need radon mitigation system installation in Dell Rapids? Call (605) 210-7667 or send the form. Full detail on how these systems work is on our radon mitigation system installation page, and every radon service we offer in Dell Rapids is listed on the Dell Rapids page.