Experience with Radon?

[pickel]

We got the results of the radon test on the spec home we are buying.  It is 18.6.  EPA suggests mitigation for anything higher than 4.0.  I'm kind of freaking out.  I know radon is the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer and I just recently got the news that my stepmom has a short time left due to brain/spinal fluid cancer that resulted from her lung cancer, so its hitting close to home. Seeing someone this close to me go through this has been terrifying and eye opening and I want nothing to do with anything that might cause me or H (or future children) to have to go through what she (and my dad) are going through.  The radon scares me.  

Anyway, what makes me most angry about this house situation is that the builder isn't willing to do anything to remediate or pay anything toward radon mitigation.  This seems like an issue that they should take care of.  We would have had to if it had been found in the house we are selling. 

My biggest concern though, is can they lower the radon enough so that it isn't an issue?  Will I always have to worry about it? 

Has anyone had any luck (1) getting their builder to take care of the radon and (2) lowering the radon low enough so that you felt comfortable living in the house?

[mrs.jacinthe]

Yes, they can certainly mitigate that. No problem. Our OH house had radon in the double digits, mitigated within safe limits without difficulty by a basic system. Cost about $1000 - but the seller paid.

IMO, it should be the builder's responsibility to install the mitigation system - health and safety issues should be the responsibility of the seller, regardless of who the seller is. In your case, I'd be insistent. Get a quote for remediation and let them know that you're willing to walk if they're not willing to remediate. It would be silly of them to allow buyers to walk over $1k - but honestly, if that's a hill they're willing to die on, you may be dodging a bullet. Just my $0.02 (because I didn't throw enough cliches into that last sentence.)

[pickel]

We are getting some quotes tomorrow and are going to go from there. I see your point Merida, but it seems like it should be the Seller's responsibility to make the house a safe condition to live in. I'm glad to hear it can be mitigated to a point where you don't have to worry about it though. Thank you both!

[pickel]

Mar 7, 2013 18:12:35 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

First, I am so sorry for the personal experiences with this.

Thank you Merida.  I re-read and didn't mean to put a sob story out there.  But yeah, cancer sucks. 

[lovemymonkey]

Our previous home had a passive radon mitigation system built in by the builder. Radon is common in my area and when we finished out the basement last Spring we had it tested for radon and it was high even with the passive system. We paid $650 to make our passive system into an active one (added a fan in the attic) and our radon levels fell to below 1.0. It was a simple fix. Do you know if your home has a passive system already?

[lolc]

I am so sorry to hear about your stepmom's battle with cancer.

I don't have any direct experiences with radon, but my aunt does. My aunt lives in CT and her house was built within the last 10 years. Her home office is in the basement (and she works from home 40+ hours a week, so imagine!!!) - and she found out the radon levels in there were very very high and came as a shock to them. If I remember correctly, my aunt was about to have some sort of work done in the other portion of the basement (the part that isn't her home office) and for some reason the radon levels were tested before (whatever-the-work-was) started. To remediate cost them about 6,000 dollars (not sure if that indicates how bad it was, but it was expensive!) They had lived in the house for years though so there was no way to go after any previous owners or anything. She now has to have tests done every few months to make sure she is not developing any cancer. It's scary stuff.

As far as your situation, I would insist that the builder take care of it. I know laws vary by state, but in FL if such a thing is found, it is required by law that it be listed in the disclosures. I would imagine that the builder would be required to disclose this to any other potential buyer, which could result in other people walking away too... so it's really in his best interest to remediate it. As far as your last two questions, I'm sorry I don't know. I might be talking to my aunt in a bit though, so if I do I'll be sure to ask her....

[barney96]

id bet the builder doesnt want to pay but probably will if you threaten to walk. from what I know (which probably isnt a lot on this subject) some areas have more issues with radon than others. it can be mitigated with a cost and not be a problem. I would consider now if they dont pay are you willing to walk if they wont budge? if you are, you have nothing to really lose by putting up a stink so to speak. if not, you should probably decide how much you are willing to pay before you look at other places.

[SusanBAnthony]

Does the basement have drain tiling? If so they should be able to tie in a radon system to that. Either way it will cost about 1K to mediate.

It is std. practice to get a radon test when you do the home inspection, and ask for mediation, so I am surprised the builder wouldn't do it. It is definitely a regional thing, as a PP said, so expect it to happen in any house in the area if it happened to this one. I would throw a fit with the builder for sure.

[cmarie11]

We are also buying a spec home, and in our contract, our realtor suggested putting in a clause for radon. It stated that if the radon levels were higher than 4, our builder would be responsible for taking care of the mitigation. I guess in our area, most builder already put in the piping for the radon mitigation, so if necessary, they can easily just add the fan if the radon levels are high. Thankfully, our radon test passed.

Any change maybe the builder would split the costs with you? My understanding is that once the mitigation is in place, it should keep the radon levels low. You could always have it tested every few years if you're concerned.

[soozy87]

We tested the home we just bought for radon. The levels were around 6 I believe. We required the sellers to install a mitigation system, which they did, no questions asked. Our realtor said they were not able to sell the home as is now that they knew the levels of radon and that if we were to walk away that they would have to disclose, upfront, the radon levels to any other interested parties. It worked out, the system was installed and the levels are now around 2. The system was around $1000 to install.

The research that I found said that one house could have high levels of radon and the neighboring house could have low levels. Just kind of a random thing. States that have more granite in the soil are more prone to have houses with radon in them because granite releases radon into the soil/air. Granite is not the only cause, however.

[jani7]

I'd push the builder too, that is really high!

I'm just curious what would cause a house to have higher levels of radon? We are building a house and using a lot of granite (kitchen, bathrooms etc) is this a cause?

Edit - Oh it's granite in the soil. 

[cajungal]

I've never had a radon test done in any house I've lived in. I'm assuming this is a regional test? I'm in the Houston, TX area.

[SusanBAnthony]

The test is easy. You can do it yourself cheaply, but if you want the results fast during the home inspection period, you have to pay someone to do it. It is just an absorptive sponge that you hang in the basement, then send to a lab after a specified period of time. A 48 hour test is typical, but if that is borderline you can do up to like a six month test. You have to keep your basement shut the whole time, no open windows, etc, bc the radon will blow out if you ventilate.

[pickel]

We ended up getting a quote for the system and due to the crawlspace (and some other stuff that I'm not really sure), it came back a little higher than expected. The good news is that the builder has agreed to pay for it! So yay!!

Thank you all for your replies!!

[pamela]

Mar 8, 2013 13:39:02 GMT -5 cajungal said:

I've never had a radon test done in any house I've lived in. I'm assuming this is a regional test? I'm in the Houston, TX area.

Definitely regional.  Like pp said, high levels of granite in the bedrock is a biggie.  Having a basement as well (which is definitely not a problem in Houston).  Reason for that is when the radon does naturally escape from the rock, it gets trapped in the lower levels of the house where the air is stagnant and builds up faster than it radioactively decays away.  So the mitigation systems are just providing that circulation to get the air moving through the house.

[niknik]

We had a radon mitigation system installed in our house paid for by the seller. Once it's out there it has to be disclosed so I'm glad your builder wised up.