Radon abatement for a shop
I’m building a 1500 sq ft shop with a couple big garage doors. Above the shop is labeled future office for permitting. I plan to use it for storage or kids slumber parties and maybe an office etc. Ideally I’d like to turn it into a 600 sq ft apartment in the future.
I’m not sure whether I need radon abatement in the slab on main floor since it’s basically like having a room over a garage. My only requirements on the plans say vapor barrier under the slab. I know code is for radon abatement in crawlspace of new homes, but not sure if required in a garage (maybe cause drafty and concrete slab?). Obviously it’s much easier to throw in some pipe for it now before slab goes down but if it’s not needed, less work and materials is a plus.
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Do you plan to spend time in your shop or is it strictly for storage? If it will be occupied, you should test for radon at that level. If it's just for storage, test on the second level. It's your health we're talking about so be honest. It's a LOT easier to just include passive radon venting than to try to retrofit a system later.
I'll be working in the shop hopefully daily. My ahj says vapor barrier under slab since it's not an actual home ( I guess not sleeping close to the floor is a reason). The upstairs will be about 10' above the slab. If I look at it like the main floor of shop is a crawlspace, local code here says crawlspace vents required for a crawl at 1'/300 sq ft of space. If you do a vapor barrier under the slab then the requirement changes to 1'/1500 sq ft. I'm thinking at this point just throw in a couple pipes to stub up for a vent and call it a day just to be safe for later if turning upstairs to an apartment.