Whenever my clients have a home inspection performed, I always recommend that they also have a radon test performed.
Radon is an odorless and tasteless gas that is released when uranium decays in soil and rocks. It is just about everywhere, at varying concentration levels. It can enter a home through cracks in the walls and floor of your foundation and collect indoors. It can also be released by building materials or well water. If people are repeatedly exposed to high levels of radon, it can lead to lung cancer. Radon is actually the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US and every year between 15,000 to 22,000 people die from lung cancer associated with radon. Scary stuff.
For some reason when I purchased my home, my agent never suggested a radon test, nor did the home inspector. Huh. So this past week I called up one of the inspection companies that I frequently recommend and asked that they perform a radon test on my own home.
Right now I have a continuous monitoring machine running in my basement, actively taking samples of the air every 5 minutes. After 48 hours, the inspector will come back and immediately give me the results.
The inspector could have alternatively performed a passive radon test with a charcoal canister. The cannister tests are somewhat less reliable and need to be shipped off to a lab for analysis. Also, these types of tests do not indicate if a homeowner left windows or doors open, interfering with the test results.
A continuous monitoring test alerts an inspector to interference. Not really an issue in my case for testing, but something to think about if you’re a homebuyer requesting one of these tests.
Tomorrow when the inspector drops by to pick up the machine and give me my results, I’ll be hoping they are below 4.0 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). Anything below 4.0 is deemed “safe” by the EPA. Anything 4.0 and over needs to be retested and, potentially, a radon mitigation system may need to be installed.
Keep your fingers crossed for a sub 4.0 reading, please…
UPDATE: Our radon test results came back at 2.1pCi/L, so no issues for the time being. Also, thanks to a loyal reader for a link to the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s list of radon mitigation professionals. The document also contains some good information on how radon mitigation systems work and a range of installation costs.
We actually have a remediation system in our home. Our level was barely above the safe limit, but we asked for and the seller installed a remediation system in our house. We’re not sure if it’s going to hurt the resale value of the house, but we liked everything else about our house and wanted to be cautious about the health implications in case we had kids and because we have pets.
The only downside is having someone come by every few years to inspect the system. So far, so good.
Hope you don’t have to deal with it. 🙂
Sujal
Thankfully our test results came out well below the specified limits. Whew!
You should be fine with a mitigation system at resale. As long as you kept the paperwork for your initial test results, the installation paperwork, and retest results, there shouldn’t be an issue. A documentation trail is key, it gives the next buyer peace of mind.