So, I discovered the air in my house is spicy. Radium spicy.

Bad @root .

You shall not intoxicate stupid people with radioactive material....

Or what the hell is going on xD

@IntrusionCM I got suspicious over everyone in my family coughing a little more than expected (and increasingly moreso) and getting tired, and … let’s just say the neighborhood children added quite a bit to my suspicions.

So we bought a radon detector and set it up to measure the ambient levels in the house. Turns out we were right. It’s not at crazy levels, but enough that it’s still dangerous (2-4 pCi/L, varying by room).

We have some radon people coming out to inspect and give us a quote on a mitigation system. For now, lots of open windows and staying away from the worse areas.

Also going to build a cloud chamber with my boys to teach them about radiation!

@Root

Uuuuuuuuhm.

That's worrisome.

Any reason why you specifically targeted radon?

I know there are some areas with elevated levels, but it seems ... Way off in my brain.

Sorry for curiosity, but my first thought with coughs would be mold, fungi, maybe toxic shit from outside (cars, pollen, fucking neighbors smoking shit / burning shit / ...)...

But radon? No clue how to come to that conclusion.

@IntrusionCM

Yeah… I’m more than a little worried about it.

As for why I thought it was radon instead of something else:

I’ve been around black mold before (childhood, and our last house), and its effects are different — much more intense brain fog and malaise, in addition to the coughing. The air also feels different: heavier, dirtier, and like moist dust. You’re right that it could be a different mold, though, so I didn’t exclude it. As for the rest…

Pollen is seasonal, so that’s out.

The air quality here is vastly better than where we moved from, even in terms of dust, and our symptoms continued to increase during winter with thick snow cover, so that doesn’t fit.

This has been very mild with continually increasing symptoms. The area we’re in is known to be slightly elevated in terms of radon, so it was either mold or radon (or something I hadn’t thought of). Radon fits a little better than everything else I could think of, and is easy to test for. So we did!

Unfortunately it turns out we were right. I’d much rather it was mold…

@Root yeah... If it's radon, then it's really nasty .... :(

Makes sense.

You're right, most mold has a special funky feeling to it...

I can differentiate most stuff thx to my fucked up lungs by how fucked I am.

Pollen is an entirely different cough than e.g. when the neighbors vape...or turned the staircases in an bodyspray gas chamber... Etc blabla. Pulmonary sarcoidosis / lung fibrosis makes these things for me pretty bad, dry cough and feeling of asphyxiation immediately.

The kind of dry cough where you're not sure wether the lungs are still inside the rib cage or somewhere sprayed at the wall...

I wish you luck that you find the culprit soon.

Maybe it's not a general problem, but sth is broken.

It reminds me that certain alarm equipment, like e.g. fire sensors and stuff, are sometimes powered by radio active energy... I think it was Nest who had that...

Maybe something in that direction if not a regional problem?

@IntrusionCM I have no idea. It could be something simple, or it could be a deposit of uranium/radium/thorium somewhere under the neighborhood. Guessing from what I’ve noticed of the children nearby, I’m guessing it’s the latter.

Also, we had baby birds that showed odd signs like having feathers fall out, being a little smaller and weaker, etc. Another clutch the next year exhibited much worse signs: stunted growth, extremely weak, inability to fly, and random heart attacks (or similar cause of sudden death after exertion).

So :/

Agaishdg.

How much was your detector? I saw on Lowes one for almost $300.

@Root if there r so many signs, the radiation type is not that important ( unless is already accumulated ). I know. it's not easy w/ kids ( depending on their age ) but my best advice would be the obvious : relocation!

@We3D There’s not a lot of signs or symptoms. Just enough that it made me notice something was off, and eventually that it was getting worse.

If the inspection shows that it’s bad enough, we’ll move, but a mitigation system might be enough. I’ve been doing some research and they seem effective (70-99% reduction)

@Demolishun About a hundred. And it’s not made in china :)

@Root I'm still a bit sceptical. I haven't done any research, but even if the mitigation system is that good, it still has its perimeter and when out of range u might be still exposed...

@We3D likewise

Daaaaamn, where are you living? No wonder the people around you are so unpleasant....

@Nanos Well that’s disturbing. Long covid / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome involves (or can involve) mitochondrial damage as well. That’s why it makes you so damn tired.

Update: laundry room is 6.5 pCi/L

@Root what is the norm. is this a good news or a bad one

just checked some stats. that is in the middle of badness... If I was u should already start thinking about where to start the packing from... doesn't sound safe at all...

...on a second look, I was reading some smokers vs cancer stats... so I still don't know how dangerous that lvl is...

wtf? no one is gonna be sued because of this?