Anyone see this article?
Radon is one thing, but uranium too? How frequently is this happening? Anyone come across this before? If so, have you changed your procedures to compensate for the risk. Anyone give any warnings to HOs? Or, to designers?
In our litigous society, it’s remarkably easy to get named in a lawsuit by an unhappy HO – especially one who has just dropped mega $$$s on a new kitchen.
Griff
Replies
Interesting, crotch height radioactivity. Something else to put in the contract (ie. all materials used are not to be dangerously radioactive unless previously agreed upon).
Edited 7/24/2008 11:16 pm ET by sisyphus
What? You're not intrigued by the chance to glow in the darK?
It does pose some intriguing dilemmas though.
Who'd have thought you'd get a piece of material that was radioactive?Griff
It might save my progeny from having to be bitten by a radioactive spider to achieve stardom.
Who'd have thought you'd get a piece of material that was radioactive
Don't wave a dectector around a coal bin. Or take one on a cross-country flight.
Low-level ionization is all around us.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
and the toilets like I was telling T8 in his thread.
I know that there are many natural sources of radioactive material in the world. My quandary was having one wind up processed into a countertop and having that installed into your brand new kitchen.
It seems plainly obvious that neither the quarry from which it had been mined nor the plant at which it had been ground, polished and cut had a Geiger counter handy. I don't know how frequently the source of granite is contaminated with uranium or other radioactive elements. Heck, many of them aren't even in the USA. (If that was the source of the slab in the article, it doesn't say much for our Homeland Security that a radioactive slab got through one of our ports.)
I find this whole episode very peculiar and somewhat troubling.Griff
is contaminated with uranium or other radioactive elements
Well, there's radioactive and there's radioactive.
You dial your radiac detector down far enough, you'll get a reading from the night sky, just from the normal background radiation out there. Sensitive enough meter will pick up the guages in your smoke dectors, too.
Coal and oil will emit enough above background that you can detect them using remote sensors (after drilling a well, you can lower a detector down to find the correct depth to fracture the rock for best flow).
With ionizing radiation, it's the intensity as well as the exposure. Otherwise the pitchblende-glazed fiestaware would have left stands (and cupboards) aglow <g>
The old phrase "dectable is not always dangerous" applies here.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
The entire State Capitol of Texas is covered with granite. Naturally occurring radiation is everywhere, including the human body, bananas, and the sun.
Everyone knows that. That's not the issue here. This problem deals with uranium mixed in with the granite and boosting the radioactive output by several factors.Griff
The entire State Capitol of Texas is covered with granite.
That explains a lot:-)
At least you don't have to worry about those pesky germs.
I don't know. They can be pretty resourceful and adaptable. Give them a year and they'll probably mutate into something immune to whatever. Maybe even feed off it.
Geez, that sounds like a movie script from a bad 50's era sci-fi flick.
Griff
Edited 7/25/2008 1:32 am ET by Jgriff
Don't start hyperventilating. Uranium and Radon are two of dozens of naturally occuring radioactive isotopes that have been around since forever. The levels are miniscule and represent no threat to your health or anyone elses. Just being able to detect them don't automatically make them a threat.
Spend an hour at the beach, or take a long plane ride, and you'll get much higher exposure to ionizing radiation than you will standing at that kitchen counter - even if it is at cajone level - lol
I once wanted to take a 35mm camera into a nuclear plant and they wouldn't let me because the lens coating contained Thorium at levels greater than they would allow.
Guys, guys, slow down. Go back and read my first post.
The purpose of it was that in our litigious society these types of things will create problems for everyone in the chain of supply - from the importer/fabricator down to the GC and his/her subs to the installer.
Besides having some fun with glow in the dark fantasies, this situation is something that perhaps should enter our thoughts. While the article clearly indicates the health risk is minimal, when did that ever stop anyone from suing someone else when there's a potential pot of gold at the end.
Perhaps some preventative warnings could help avoid legal claims.
That's all of my message.Griff
Whaddya mean "glow in the dark fantasies"?? One of the upsides of my 20 year Nuclear Engineering career (Five years as a Health Physicist) is that I never need a night light for those 2:00 am head calls. - lol
You're definitely right about the scare factor however. It's only a matter of time before some pea-brain homeowner decides that their countertops are responsible for their health problems and they find an equally pea-brained lawyer to bring a class action lawsuit. Maybe I'll call in if I see one their ads on TV. - lol
Edited 7/25/2008 10:18 pm by Dave45
Enjoyed your post. Thanks for the levity.Griff
Who knew your countertop could also be a cook top.
Good point. Hadn't thought of that.Griff
Haven't come across this one yet, but it sounds along the lines of granite growing bacteria as touted by the quartz folks. It's like they can't sell their product on its merits, and it does have them, so they resort to trashing the competition.
Granite does come from the ground; no one should be surprised if some of it contains unwanted materials. I'm with Cap'n Mac that it's probably pretty minimal compared to other sources of radiation.
Quartz materials are generally advertised to be 95% natural quartz, which also comes from the ground, so maybe it's got some radioactivity going on there, too. Who knows without testing?
Still, there's nothing like a little hype to give a particular type of attorney a way to sue everyone up and down the supply chain. Because of the demand for exotic stones, I'd expect to see certification for stone products in the near future and warnings posted for those stones that present a high risk of contamination. I hope there's also some consumer education as to the real dangers before the idiots out there start trashing even more natural resources because of irrational fears.
Think that will satisfy the public who demands safety while pouring gallons of toxic anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-odor, etc. products down the train or dumping them on the ground?
The lawyers are already lining up at the trough.
"Have you had Chernobyl Granite installed in your house? Call 1-800..."
This is an asset, though! The radioactivity should kill any and all bacteria, so it's sort of a built-in anti-microbial agent. Antiseptic countertops, whodathunkit?
Umless of course the bacteria instead morphs into mega-bacteria, and you wake up one morning to find a 3' diameter mass of ooze on your countertop.
In the end it's a moot point, for the lawyers will step forward to protect us and act in our best interests. ;^
Lord deliver us from lawyers looking after our best interests!!
I can't wait for the so-called "abatement" experts to evolve from this who will remove your perfectly good granite tops for a price, and then sell them to someone else. Heck, maybe I'd be able to afford them then!
While it's possible that there is some increased radon levels in some stone, I hope this is going to end up one of the urban legends for Mythbusters. Maybe we should send it to them!
I guess Silestone doesn't have this issue?
Silestone is reported to be above 95% natural quartz, which is also from the ground, so it's possible it has radon, too (?).
I'm intrigued by the posting about the MD quarry that can't supply materials for concrete because of radon content.
Anyone know of any agency regulating the stuff in granite? Who regulates it in the concrete?
Regulating this stuff? Don't know but I'll assume that the Consumer Products Safety Commission and all their 'lil brother state outfits would be happy to jump in with regulations and mandates and advisories and anything else to scare the public and enlarge their own feifdoms. All in the name of protecting the children, of course.
Griff
FYI from Wikipedia:
The danger of radon exposure in dwellings was discovered in 1984 when Stanley Watras, an employee at the Limerick nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, set off the radiation alarms on his way to work for two weeks while authorities searched for the source of the contamination. They found that the source was high levels of radon – about 100,000 Bq/m³ (2,700 pCi/L) – in his house's basement, and it was not related to the nuclear plant. The risks associated with living in his house were estimated to be equivalent to smoking 135 packs of cigarettes every day. Following this highly publicized event, national radon safety standards were set, and radon detection and ventilation became a standard homeowner concern.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
So, now i have to wear my tin foil hat in the house too? jeese...
FWIW... there is a quarry here in MD that the stone is not allowed to be used as aggregate in concrete because of radon.
Looks there are soon going to be a lot of used granite countertops available, cheap, when everyone starts ripping them out.
Just think - a man of my means, with a granite countertop in the kitchen...maybe I'll get one for the bath, too.
;-)
AlexOutside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx
So, now i have to wear my tin foil hat in the house too? jeese...
Matt,
I don't think Tin Foil will do it. Get yourself some heavy lead plate and slip inside the front of your Fruit of the Looms....
Bill ;>)
Edited 7/26/2008 10:20 pm ET by BilljustBill