Radon testing

[IIOY]

I noticed this morning that suddenly two of our neighbors have radon fans/vents, so it would seem wise to get tested again (we tested when we moved in 8 years ago and not since).

Can anyone give me the basics? Can we get a home testing kit? *Should* we do it ourselves or is this worth hiring an inspector? How complicated is the testing? Any other thoughts?

Thank you!

[soozy87]

We just purchased a home, a week ago actually. We required radon testing before closing. We had a certified radon tester come in a perform the test, that was about $150. It needs to be done on each level of the house and in a low traffic area. The test runs over 2 days, I believe. Our results came back as a 5.2 parts per million average. Acceptable levels are below 4.0ppm. We required the sellers to install a radon mitigation system, which they did. According to the invoices it was about $1100 for the system and sealing the sump pump and hair line cracks. The mitigation system is basically a pipe they install in the basement floor that runs outside (sometimes up the side of the house) with a fan attached to it that draws out the air/radon that is trapped under the foundation. We had the same certified tester come back and the results were 1.1ppm on that report.

It was totally worth it to us, as we were walking through this house with the realtor she was telling us a story about a house she sold for a woman whos' husband had just died of lung cancer. Come to find out that radon levels were over 7 and that was probably the reason or a contributing reason for the lung cancer.

All of the information that we found said that the radon levels vary from house to house in a neighborhood, one house could have high levels and the next could have very low levels.

HTH

[IIOY]

Jan 21, 2013 14:21:09 GMT -5 @abbycobb said:

Might depend on what state you're in, but in MI you can pick up a radon test from the health department for free. When we bought our house no one even mentioned hiring someone to do it - our 65+ year old real estate agent set up the test for us. After we got our mitigation system, the guy who installed it left a test with us to check it in a year. Everyone we've talked to says it's pretty easy to do.

ETA: Ours was only tested in the basement, since radon comes from the ground you should have the highest levels there.

Funny you mention this - in doing some research, I discovered that the American Lung Association is handing out free test kits to PA residents (while supplies last).  I signed up for one and hopefully will receive it in 4-6 weeks. 

[soozy87]

I think that a lot of time with the do it yourself kits you still have to mail them in to the lab and there is a fee for that. Much less than $150, but not totally free.

[IIOY]

Jan 21, 2013 14:52:46 GMT -5 soozy87 said:

I think that a lot of time with the do it yourself kits you still have to mail them in to the lab and there is a fee for that. Much less than $150, but not totally free.

Some kits have fees (~$10) for expedited service, with the strong recommendation that you pay this because if a test isn't analyzed ASAP, it could sit around for quite a while and may therefore deliver inaccurate results when finally analyzed.  It sounds like a scam, really - "Pay us more or you will get inaccurate results!"

However, other kits have no hidden fees like this.  I'm learning that it's really just a matter of doing a little research to separate the wheat from the chaff.

[SusanBAnthony]

In Minnesota, we ordered a kit from the state, that came with an overnight shipping envelope. We did both a two day and a week test, mailed them back, and got an email with the results. Easy. Our numbers were borderline, but we had a system installed anyway since. Knew we would be selling it soon, and didn't want to deal with it later on.

Here in ohio, we made an offer on a house and had a company test it at the same time as a termite inspection. A couple hundred bucks for both tests.