Good News!

I got back the results of the radon test - 1.4 pCi/L, far below the EPA standard of 4.
Yay that the radon air abatement has been working!
I have a water test on order to double check that system, and now every other year I'll put out a long-term test to monitor it.
Shout out to AccuStar in Ward Hill MA, the test/lab facility. If you need a radon test, I recommend them.

What's Done is Done

The most expensive thing I've had to do to this house so far is also the least sexy thing to talk about and photograph.

Hrmph.

This fancy black tupper tub you see above is a well water radon mitigation unit. It basically takes the water from the well pump, bubbles it to jostle the radon out (radon wants to be in the air, not the water) and then blows the contaminated air out while pressurizing the water back to the house.
That black box, it's attached pipes and 3/4 a day's labor is $4500.

Double Hrrmph.

Here we see where the air vent exists the basement, through my plexiglass window, along with the air vent. That funny basketball sized thing on the pipe is a fan that is sucking the radon gas out from under my foundation through holes specially drilled and excavated to collect the radon gas before it passes through the cement into the basement air. This fancy contraption of PVC and fan was an additional $1400.
The nice man has to come back tomorrow and listen to the fan with me, because it's oddly loud in weird places in the house. Idling Train Engine Loud, at least to me. But I might be a bit oversensitive.

Here's where I'll make a note to myself to read all future quotes with a fine tooth comb. I went into this thinking that the total for the job was $4500, because the the number in bold at the bottom of the sheet next to the word "total" was $4500. I was pretty thrilled, until the nice man handed me the invoice. What I'd been looking at was the total for the Water section. There was no total for both Air and Water.
it's work I would have had to do anyway, but I wasn't emotionally prepared to lay it out right then. I'm really pretty angry at myself for missing it. It means that some other things I wanted to do sooner than later will now happen later.

One last insult to injury is that I'd just started considering getting a wood stove an tossing it on the unused chimney to get something resembling warmth in here.

Radon pipe, right in front of the chimney.

That idea was vetoed by the universe.

Window Scramble

The fact that the house has a radon problem is not news. It's part of why I got the house for the price I did. Not only is there radon in the basement air, but also in the well water.
The radon guy has been scheduled to come out next Tuesday. During the quote, he suggested drilling holes through the sills to run the vent pipes. I suggested we not, and maybe run them out a conveniently placed window instead. He agreed. He figured he'd put in a sheet of plywood in place of the window, and I figured someday I'd brick it up.
When I was cleaning out that section of the basement, it became clear that the window is very handy. Loosing the natural light it provides (south side of the house) would be a real shame. I thought about it, called the radon guy back and asked if we could use a sheet of plexiglass instead of ply. "Sure!" he responded. Great! Now I just needed to get a fitted piece of plexi for that space.
But what *size*? To the inside of the window frame or the outside? Plexi is really finicky to cut. He suggested that I have a window place do it. I can cut glass - Ive got the tools and done it before, but not plexi. I pondered.
I was talking to my coworker, Andrew, who is a handy sort. He suggested why don't I just have the window glass in the existing frame replaced with plexi? Then I don't have to worry about the fit and seal so much, and as I have to talk to window people anyway, well?
I made a few calls. I found a place. They could do it, but only had an opening this afternoon. I could do what I had to do for work from home anyway, so I left, raced home, yanked the window out of the house and made it to the window place in time, covered in dirt and cobwebs and lord know what else.
I was in such a hurry, there's not really process photos.

Example of window before. (different window.)

They are just Harvey insulated replacement windows. They are not special in any way, except in that they are decent quality and keep the weather out and heat in. The frames are cemented into the foundations, so this course of action really did make the most sense unless I wanted to chisel the casements out.
One stripped screw head later, the window was out, and a layer of bubble insulation and gaffer's tape applied.

I reinforced the tape when I got home.

They had that window set for me by 3 pm. I picked it up, and they gave me a tube of caulk. "When the radon guys are done," the owner said, "you take this and caulk the crap out of the edges and where the pipes meet the holes. We didn't want to caulk it before they saw it."
With a smile and a thank you, I brought my window home and put it back in.

Can't tell it's different, but it is.

TaDa!
Tomorrow, fixing the latch on the basement door so it actually latches.