(859) 225-1105 SWAT Radon Mitigation of Lexington

Home buyers beware: SWAT gets business with lower prices than competitors but do not be fooled. Do not go through with a home closing if the sellers have hired SWAT. Our experience: The radon mitigation work performed by SWAT has been unsuccessful in mitigating the radon in our home which was part of the closing. Since we became owners of the property SWAT have installed a second sub-slab system, added a crawl space vapor barrier, added two additional “taps” to the two sub-slab systems, and changed fans on both systems. Radon piping was visible in every quadrant of the basement; the impact on the finished basement’s aesthetic was significant –and the systems looked very sloppy and cobbled together. Also they chose a location of the first system inches from master bedroom window which was unacceptable for the noise. Despite all this effort the radon readings were still high, 10-13 pCi/L. SWAT concluded the persistent radon levels were due to a “cold joint” in the foundation of the basement, which is an expansion joint (gap) between the concrete slab and the concrete block walls. This cold joint runs along the perimeter of the basement’s outside walls. They recommended sealing off this joint with a flexible yet impermeable material. In order to access the cold joint, the basement walls’ finishing would need to be removed. Before we took this drastic action we decided to get a second opinion from another radon company who is locally owned/operated. They assessed the mitigation systems installed by SWAT and identified several problems including inadequately sealed suction points, pipe joints not glued - see pics, inadequate suction pits dug under the slab, and illegally wired fans. The company indicated they have replaced “dozens” of systems installed by SWAT locally. We have since had work done by the other company and radon levels have been successfully mitigated.

They were more interesting in getting it done and moving onto the next job than putting than asking my wife where it would be least intrusive.

After it was done, it all looked great. I really like that it looks good, and to verify their work, I sent a radon test to two different radon measuring companies, who said the level was good, and in a healthy range. I hate to say it again, but they did a great job, and gave me a warranty for 10 years on the work. They only reason I wouldn't use them again, is because I have a warranty with them, and I wont need to use them again in the future.

While they were very affordable, friendly, and relatively fast, there was a miscommunication regarding installation of 3 vapor barriers in the 3 crawl spaces. This took several phone calls and about an hour (which seemed too long for such a small problem) to correct. While they were kind enough to upgrade our mitigation pump for the trouble and gave us a reduced price on two of the crawl spaces, they were unwilling to provide a vapor barrier in the larger crawl space despite the technicians recommendation to do that area. Furthermore the technician sealed our sump pump so that it can no longer function as a sump pump which has proved problematic during a recent basement leak. Hopefully I will not need this service in the future, but if I do I may consider looking elsewhere.