Announcements


Join us February 13th for a band on workshop at Ecosearch srl. See you soon🔹 Vi avevamo promesso delle novità, vi avevamo promesso che quest’anno tornavamo ad organizzare Workshop nella nostra azienda e così abbiamo fatto.🆕 Il 13 febbraio si terrà nella nostra sede un Workshop VaporPin. Nel nostro sito potete scaricare il programma e il modulo di adesione, qui di seguito il link ⬇️: https://www.ecosearch.info/workshop-su-vaporpinLa partecipazione è gratuita, dovete solo compilare il modulo di adesione e mettere su Google Maps “EcoSearch” per raggiungerci.Vi aspettiamo numerosi, non vediamo l’ora di accogliervi nella nostra azienda!!Vapor Pin#VaporIntrusion #Remediation #SitiContaminati ... See MoreSee Less
NEW - Tygon Connectors!The Vapor Pin® Kit is designed to make your use of our products a success each time. However, one item was previously not included - the connector to match the barb fitting to the sample train. From this point forward, our kits will include Tygon connectors to bridge the distance between your sampling train and the Vapor Pin® Sampling Device. You may also purchase a bag of Tygon connectors separately or in 5 foot lengths.https://www.vaporpin.com/product/tygon-connectors-10-pieces/ ... See MoreSee Less
Vapor Pin is at Ferrara.
Vapor Pin
I'm thrilled to share with you the program of Remtech Europe 2021. This important environmental conference is made of 23 sessions fully ONLINE. Any session is completely FREE.To follow any session you have to register in our website https://remtech.meeters.space with a valid email. To reserve your seat, receive the presentations in pdf and receive your Certificate of Attendance of the session you will attend, you have to register in the Google form of each session. In each form you would find also the detailed program and beginning and end in different time zones. Reserve your seat today!SESSION 1 (Organized by JRC-European Commission) From policy talking to industry actions: Zero Pollution for Soil Mon 20 SEPTEMBER 09:00 – 13.00 CEST https://forms.gle/RhvqacpBJKrXvveq6SESSION 2 (Organized by US Army Corps of Engineers) TRAINING COURSE - PFAS: characterization, environmental impact, remediation strategies Mon 20 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/pSJzwMWt7G1mERUKASESSION 3 Sustainable management of contaminated sites Mon 20 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 16.30 CEST https://forms.gle/GzgcfXHWEzTySktVASESSION 4 Waste tailings and acid mine drainage: challenges for Mining Sites Mon 20 SEPTEMBER 17.00 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/RqQLnZqXeoJd5dKK8SESSION 5 Bioremediation and phytoremediation in agricultural, industrial, and military sites Tue 21 SEPTEMBER 09.00 – 11.00 CEST https://forms.gle/sScosaSUwsSh5AH79SESSION 6 Oil and hydrocarbons impacted sites Tue 21 SEPTEMBER 11.30 – 13.30 CEST https://forms.gle/VFx1Re2txyaxF2z78SESSION 7 HRSC, High Resolution Site Characterization Tue 21 SEPTEMBER 11.30 – 13.30 CEST https://forms.gle/okDrkFA8YrsAUhcRASESSION 8 (Organized by ASTM) TRAINING COURSE - ASTM STANDARDS: PFAS, Sediment and Climate Resilience Tue 21 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/pnz5H6edwFi6p1QA9SESSION 9 Innovative, digital and smart characterization techniques tools Tue 21 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 16.30 CEST https://forms.gle/5MvheZmiPq5aQphW8SESSION 10 Circular Economy: how to apply it in the context of the next Generation EU Tue 21 SEPTEMBER 17.00 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/tHBuZXpuraKiHYwi8SESSION 11 Soil remediation: can we deal in a sustainable way? Wed 22 SEPTEMBER 09.00 – 11.00 CEST https://forms.gle/Zh8gKvK1bn8BxcJk9SESSION 12 DNAPL and chlorinated compounds: optimize the process to achieve the target Wed 22 SEPTEMBER 11.30 – 13.30 CEST https://forms.gle/M8zcit6jQiNaBa446SESSION 13 (Organized by SERDP-ESTCP) TRAINING COURSE - Current Approaches for Vapor Intrusion Site Investigation and Mitigation Wed 22 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/q4BigJhPv891kG4U8SESSION 14 (Organized by Ramboll) TRAINING COURSE - Sustainability assessment as a tool for a more sustainable and resilient remediation of soils, groundwater and sediments Wed 22 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 16.30 CEST https://forms.gle/LFBFwAaWqdnvPQUb8SESSION 15 PFAS, remediating the forever chemical Wed 22 SEPTEMBER 17.00 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/H3yXyRzBshvKifBM9SESSION 16 Microplastics and sediments: two main threats for ports and coastal areas Thu 23 SEPTEMBER 09.00 – 11.00 CEST https://forms.gle/GQCAfXJ142r23r2B9SESSION 17 Sustainathon Thu 23 SEPTEMBER 14.00 – Fri 24 SEPTEMBER 14:00 CEST https://forms.gle/zCQBwt3eG1xBFGSM7SESSION 18 Aeriforms and vapor intrusion: measures and models Thu 23 SEPTEMBER 11.30 – 13.30 CEST https://forms.gle/m1KikTrbNncick936SESSION 19 Groundwater remediation in difficult conditions Thu 23 SEPTEMBER 11.30 – 13.30 CEST https://forms.gle/d9neHnF2sP9mN8hu6SESSION 20 (Organized by AESAS) TRAINING COURSE - State of the art of contaminated sites in Brazil Thu 23 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/Yy5hBLnzX2qngWcS8SESSION 21 River environment: managing impacts from different sources Fri 24 SEPTEMBER 09.00 – 11.00 CEST https://forms.gle/Ydgj3UFN13TTg3Yk8SESSION 22 Wastewater and sewer sludge, handling the last link in the chain Fri 24 SEPTEMBER 11:30 – 13.30 CEST https://forms.gle/L6Tsi5zPVfUpWQhEASESSION 23 TRAINING COURSE: Wastewater control and seawater quality: it is possible to do it acting differently? Fri 25 SEPTEMBER 14.30 – 19.00 CEST https://forms.gle/mvTELbnKXZr4S6cs5Feel free to share to your colleagues or to any contacts that you think he/she may be interested. REMEMBER THAT THE CONFERENCE IS FREE, NO FEES. JOIN US !See you online!Laurie A. ChilcoteRemtech Europe Ambassador ... See MoreSee Less
Vapor Pin is at RemTech Expo.
Vapor Pin
Decontamination and Decommissioning of Warehouses - Gela Industrial Site. - Author: Mariangela Venco (ENI Rewind) RemTech Expo ... See MoreSee Less
We are excited to announce our Brazil Patent BR 11 2018 004186-6 has been granted!#remediation #vaporintrusion #contaminatedsites #vaporpin #vi #coxcolvin #patent #Brazil ... See MoreSee Less
Don't miss out, join us next week at one or all of the following webinars to see and be seen!Tuesday - May 19th with Brownfield Summit, Craig Cox will be presenting at 10:35 EST - Evaluating and Remediating a Complex Contaminated Groundwater Plumehttps://www.brownfieldsummit.com/programmeWednesday - May 20th with MSECA - Craig Cox will be presenting on Sanitary Sewers as the Expected Preferential Pathway in Vapor Intrusion Evaluations.http://mseca.org/2020-05_-_Seminar.phpThursday - May 20th with Alpha Labs, Join Craig Cox and Laurie Chilcote as they do a live sub-slab demo Vapor Intrusion: Sampling with Confidence for Mid-Atlantic Stateshttps://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8677107578848466445 ... See MoreSee Less
We are excited to participate in the virtual seminar Vapor Intrusion: Sampling with Confidence for the Mid-Atlantic region, with Mark Mank of the Maryland Department of the Environment, Todd Creamer of Geosyntec Consultants, Christina Lewis at Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Craig Cox at Cox-Colvin and Associates, Inc. and our own William Elcoate and Andy Rezendes. This event is free. NJ LSRP CEC Application for credits is pending. Registration is open: https://lnkd.in/djzaP9B ... See MoreSee Less
We are OPEN for business, stocked and ready to support you. Please be safe, wash your hands and practice social distancing! ... See MoreSee Less
We are OPEN for business. Just noticed are website has a hiccup. If you can't get online, please call our office for direct sales. 614-504-6915.We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have the site back up momentarily! #vaporpin ... See MoreSee Less

Main Content

Vapor Intrusion Fundamentals – Subslab Soil-Gas Sampling


The terms “subslab” or “sub-slab” soil gas refer to the air contained in soil or fill directly under a building’s lowest floor, regardless of whether the building has slab-on-grade or basement construction. Strictly speaking, subslab soil gas is present under building floors, but subslab soil gas also can be collected from under parking lots, roads, or other exterior pavement.

Ideally, we’d measure indoor air directly, since indoor air is what receptors breathe. Unfortunately, indoor air consistently contains “background” contamination, (i.e., contaminants from indoor sources, such as cleaning products, paints, and in commercial/industrial settings, products used in bulk). Background often also contains benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, ant toluene (BTEX) from outdoor air, especially in metropolitan areas. If vapors in the workplace are from VI, EPA has jurisdiction, but if they’re from products or processes, OSHA standards apply. Furthermore, most vapor-mitigation systems don’t eliminate background contamination, so early on, we need to figure out which chemicals in indoor air are from VI, and which are from background. Therefore, we first look at soil gas, and assume that indoor constituents that are absent in soil gas must be background. Soil gas is diluted as it mixes with indoor air, and vapor concentrations in indoor air are normally less than 3% of soil-gas levels. Accordingly, when contaminants are detected in soil gas, if their concentrations are sufficiently low (< 33x the indoor screening levels), indoor sampling might not be needed.

Subslab soil gas is collected through a building floor, while exterior soil gas is collected away from the building. Exterior sampling saves having to drill holes in the slab, and it enables one to collect deep soil-gas samples using various types of drilling rigs. But soil moisture, oxygen levels, and other properties can be very different in exterior soil than in subslab, and the exterior vapor concentrations might not reflect what enters the building. Exterior soil gas is also more difficult to collect than subslab. To prevent outdoor air from diluting the sample, exterior soil gas is collected from a depth of 5 feet or more, which requires either a drilling rig, or lots of time and effort with a hand auger. In contrast, subslab soil-gas sample points can be drilled and installed in as little as 5 minutes using hand-held equipment.

Subslab Point Installation

Subslab soil gas can be collected from something as simple as sample tubing jammed into a hole in the floor. But data will be more repeatable, and of higher quality if soil gas is collected from a sample probe made of nonreactive material, such as brass or stainless steel. Sample probes are often cemented into the slab, but Cox-Colvin uses Vapor Pins®, which are hammered in place and use a silicone sleeve to form the seal, making them fast to install and unlikely to leak.

Immediately after installing a subslab point, we attach a pump and vacuum gauge to test for soil permeability. In the rare instance that the gauge shows a high vacuum while pumping, the soil is too tight to yield soil gas, and we install a replacement point nearby. Vapor Pins® are far superior in this way, because we can test points for tightness immediately after installation. Cemented subslab points and exterior soil-gas points generally cannot be tested or sampled until the following day. Additionally, we’ve found that subslab permeability is nearly always high enough to permit sampling. We’ve installed many hundreds of subslab points, and we found that only 1% or 2% are too tight to sample, compared to 25% or more of exterior soil-gas points, at least in Ohio’s glacial soils. Subslab soil-gas points are also easier to test for leakage than exterior points. We simply surround the sample probe with distilled water, and if the water doesn’t go down the hole, the point is not leaking. Water surrounding an exterior sample point will soak into the ground, with or without leakage.

The speed with which subslab soil-gas points are installed makes them useful not just for VI assessments, but also for locating sources of contamination beneath a floor or other paved surface. Most people conduct subslab investigations with the assumption that the contamination source is where chemicals were stored, such as in underground storage tanks (USTs), or where chemicals were used, such as a degreasing or painting operations. But because we’re able to install subslab points so quickly, we’ve thoroughly investigated a number of sites on a grid spacing, and find that contamination sources just as often correspond to former exterior doors, from the days when spent solvents were routinely dumped on the ground. Oftentimes, as a result of building modifications over the years, the back door becomes an interior door, and its potential as a source area goes unrecognized. Collecting subslab soil-gas readings in a grid configuration enables us to investigate large areas, and avoid being biased by our limited historical knowledge. Finally, one other advantage of subslab sampling is that subslab sample points installed without cement, including Vapor Pins®, can potentially be removed at the conclusion of sampling, decontaminated, and reused multiple times.

Subslab Sample Analysis

Soil gas is usually analyzed with the same methods used for indoor air, which in the U.S., generally means EPA Method TO-15. TO-15 specifies Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) analysis of samples from evacuated stainless-steel “Summa” canisters. But because soil-gas concentrations at source areas are so high relative to indoor air, smaller, less costly containers might also suffice. Disposable glass vials are easier to ship than canisters and cheaper, since they don’t have to be cleaned between samples. Cox-Colvin recently completed a source investigation at a multi-acre facility in Oklahoma that was slated for demolition. VI in the existing building was not a concern, but locating contaminated soil after demolition would have been costly. Instead, 4 people installed over 250 subslab sampling points in three days using hand-held equipment. All of the points were screened with field instruments, and 17 were selected for sampling and lab analysis. The picture below shows us using a disposable syringe to pull soil gas from a subslab point, prior to injecting it into a 22-milliliter glass vial. Because samples were analyzed by Gas Chromatograph (GC), which is more sensitive than the GC/MS, we were able to get relatively low reporting levels – too high for VI testing, but adequate to locate major vapor sources. We located a number of source areas; some were expected, some were not.

Evacuated amber bottles up to 1 liter in size, including EnTech’s Bottle-Vacs®, are also useful for soil-gas sampling. Sample size is large enough in a 1-liter sample to meet most VI reporting levels. One limitation is that glass containers are limited to grab sampling, and they can’t collect soil gas over longer periods corresponding to commercial or residential exposure periods (8 or 24 hours).

Sorbent samples, which we discussed in the August 2016 Focus on the Environment newsletter, are also gaining acceptance for VI sampling. Sorbent samples are essentially air samples without the air, making them extremely compact and easy to handle. Sorbents also are better for heavier compounds and low concentrations than whole-air containers, such as canisters and vials. Unfortunately, there are multiple sorbent types, which have to be matched to the compounds of interest. Sorbents are also affected by vapor concentrations, humidity, and other factors, which limits their usefulness for soil gas, especially in the early stages of investigation. Because of their simplicity and compact size, passive sorbents are often placed into holes in a grid configuration. But sorbent samples don’t provide field readings, and they must be analyzed at a cost of hundreds of dollars each. Passive sorbent samples, i.e., those that are collected without a pump, and simply soak up vapors from soil gas, provide the contamination mass, but not the concentration, since the amount of air the represent is unknown. Soil gas from subslab probes can be screened with field instruments, which limits the number of points sent to the lab, making large-scale investigations affordable. However you collect them, subslab soil-gas samples are an essential part of VI investigations, and they provide an excellent approach to locating sources of contamination.