Commercial Radon Mitigation in Glendale

The Groundwater Story Behind Half Our Glendale Calls

Glendale sits within the San Fernando Valley groundwater basin, portions of which have been the subject of federal cleanup for decades because of trichloroethylene and related solvents from mid-century industrial operations. The Glendale area operable units are part of that. It is groundwater, not indoor air, but the two are connected by exactly the pathway we work on, and it means Glendale property with any industrial history deserves a soil gas conversation broader than radon.

The San Fernando Road corridor, the older industrial pockets around the Grand Central Business Centre where the historic airport once operated, and the light manufacturing that fed the studios all sit in that category. When a Phase I on one of those parcels comes back with a recognized environmental condition, vapor intrusion mitigation is the relevant service, and radon is usually the smaller half of the design.

Downtown Office Towers

The Brand Boulevard and Central Avenue office corridor is mostly mid-rise product over subterranean parking, which is the easiest building type in our business. The parking level takes the ground contact, its ventilation is already exchanging air continuously for carbon monoxide control, and the slab above is a second barrier. When a suite in one of these buildings tests elevated, which is rare, the pathway is almost always an elevator shaft, a stair pressurization system, or a utility riser rather than the floor itself.

The fix there is sealing and shaft management, not a sub-slab system, and it costs a fraction of what building owners fear when they first get the call.

The Verdugo Foothills

North Glendale climbs into the Verdugo Mountains, and the hillside properties up there behave more like our Sherman Oaks and Studio City work than like downtown Glendale. Buildings cut into a slope have more ground contact per square foot of floor area, often on multiple levels, and the geology is a stronger source. Commercial property is thinner up there, mostly small professional buildings and religious and educational facilities, but when we do get a high reading in Glendale it tends to come from that side of town.

What Work Here Costs

Office suite testing $700 to $2,200. Sealing-and-shaft remediation in a tower, where that is the answer, $2,500 to $8,000. Sub-slab systems on single-story commercial $6,500 to $15,000. Vapor intrusion systems, which is where a lot of Glendale industrial work lands, run 30% to 70% above a comparable radon system and carry annual monitoring costs of $3,000 to $12,000 on top.

Next Step

If you have a Phase I with a solvent-related finding on a Glendale industrial parcel, call before the deal timeline forces the conversation. If you own or manage office space downtown and a tenant has raised the question, the answer is usually cheap and fast, and we would rather tell you that than sell you something.

Related: office building radon and due diligence testing.

Glendale Questions

Does Glendale have a soil gas problem?

Radon levels in the flat parts of Glendale are generally low. The soil gas issue that comes up more often here is chlorinated solvent vapor intrusion on parcels with industrial history, given the San Fernando Valley groundwater basin cleanup that has been underway for decades in this area.

Our office is in a Brand Boulevard tower. Do we need radon testing?

Almost certainly not for building condition reasons, though a tenant or lender may ask for documentation. Mid-rise buildings over subterranean parking rarely have a radon pathway to occupied floors, because the garage takes the ground contact and its ventilation runs continuously.

What about hillside properties in north Glendale?

Those behave differently and deserve testing. Buildings cut into the Verdugo foothills have more ground contact across multiple levels, and hillside geology around the county produces our higher readings.