Dallastown the borough is small, about 0.8 of a square mile along Main Street, roughly six miles south of York. "Dallastown" the way people actually use it is a lot bigger. The Dallastown Area School District covers 52.5 square miles across York Township, Springfield Township, and the boroughs of Dallastown, Yoe, Jacobus and Loganville. If you've got a Dallastown connection, I cover you either way. It's the same drive down South Queen Street I make for York PA radon mitigation jobs.
The Local Radon Numbers Are Higher Than Most
This is the first thing I'd want a Dallastown homeowner to see.
Pennsylvania DEP's public test records show 1,420 of 2,070 basement tests from the 17313 ZIP code at or above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L. That's close to 69 percent. For comparison, DEP says about 40 percent of tested homes statewide are over.
York County's 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan pulled the same DEP data for 1990 through 2022 and reported an average of 16.3 pCi/L across 1,429 basement readings in 17313.
Two cautions, and the county makes both of them too. These are closed-house tests, which tend to read higher than a year of normal living. And a ZIP code average doesn't tell you what your house reads. Plenty of homes in 17313 test low. The only way to know yours is to test it. My radon testing is typically around $165.
What's Under Dallastown
USGS mapping shows Marburg Schist, a metamorphic rock, underlying the Dallastown and Red Lion area. I'm not going to tell you the schist is why the numbers run high. Nobody's proven that link for this area, and I don't guess about geology.
Dallastown sits up in the hills south of York, on the schist and hard folded rock of the Piedmont. That rock isn't porous like the limestone in the city, but cracks in it and loose backfill around old foundations can still bring in plenty of gas. The old iron ore banks at Ore Valley, just east of town, show how much this ground has been dug into over the years. More on York County geology and radon.
Old Borough Houses, Tight Lots
Dallastown started as a 95-acre tract James Peeling bought in 1841. It took its name in 1844 from George M. Dallas and became a borough in 1866. Then it kept growing into York Township land, with annexations in 1905, 1924, the early 1930s and 1946. Census estimates put the borough's median house at around 1958.
So a street here can hold three or four building eras. For a radon system that shows up as:
- Older foundations near Main Street that may need more sealing than a newer slab
- Additions built on their own footings, which may need their own suction point
- Tight lots where the pipe and fan can't go just anywhere. Pennsylvania's mitigation standards control where the pipe discharges, which matters when the house next door is close and its windows are closer.
A good share of Dallastown's housing is in two-unit and multi-unit buildings, too. If you share a basement wall, I'll look at how the two sides connect before I tell you what one side's system can do.
Outside the borough, out toward Loganville on Route 214 or in the York Township developments around town, the houses tend to be bigger, with attached garages and more room to route a pipe. Different house, different plan.
Houses built in stages usually have more than one foundation under them. Here's how I handle additions and mixed foundations.
How the Job Goes
I walk the house and check how air moves under the slab. You get one written price. My crew and I install the system, seal what needs sealing, including an open sump pit if you have one, and then I retest after the install. The retest is included.
If you already have a system and the fan's loud, dead, or running while your number stays high, that's a fan repair or replacement, not a new system.
Dallastown Questions
My address says Dallastown but I'm in York Township. Do you still come out?
Yes. Borough, township, Yoe, Jacobus, Loganville. If you're in the school district, you're in my area.
Is my house going to be around 16 pCi/L like the county average?
Not necessarily. That's an average across more than a thousand closed-house tests, and some homes read far lower. Test yours before assuming anything.
My lot is tight. Where would the fan go?
Usually on a side or back wall, or in an attached garage if there is one. I'll show you the options at the walkthrough and explain which ones the standards allow.
When can you come out?
Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 7:30pm, and Saturday until 2:00pm. The estimate is free.
More Than Radon
I also do mold testing and indoor air quality testing around Dallastown. Close by, I cover York Township and Spring Garden Township. The full list is on the service area page, and every service is on the services page.