Facts About Radon and Radon Testing

Facts About Radon and Radon Testing

Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless radioactive gas that's formed during the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water.  Radon exits the ground and can seep into your home through cracks and holes in the foundation. Radon gas can also contaminate well water.

Health officials have determined that radon gas is a carcinogen that can cause lung cancer.  Studies show that radon is more of a risk to smokers, but nonsmokers have a slightly elevated chance of developing lung cancer when radon levels in the home are high.  The only way to find out if your house contains radon gas is to perform radon tests.

 

Facts About Radon Gas

•There are no average radon levels for a specific city, state, or region.

•Houses without basements are as much at risk of radon contamination as houses with basements.

•It doesn't matter if your neighbor's radon test was low or high, results for your home may be completely different.

Long term radon tests take more than 90 days, but provide an accurate picture of the average amount of radon in your home. Since time is an issue, home buyers usually perform short term radon with either  

What to do if Radon levels are too high?  About 0.4 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L) of radon is found in the outside air and the average indoor radon level is about 1.3 pCi/L.  The EPA recommends you use mitigation techniques to reduce indoor radon if levels in your home are above 4 pCi/L by installing a system to reduce radon gas in your home.

 

Radon Testing and a Real Estate Transaction

Currently it is acceptable to have a radon test performed along with a home inspection.  The only problem we have with this, there is no way to guaranty the test will not be tampered with.   Tampering will produce inaccurate results.  We suggest doing the radon test after taking ownership of the property.   This way you as the owner can control the testing environment.   Insuring an accurate result.  What your lawyer can do is place into escrow the appropriate funds.  Once your test comes back the funds are there to take care of any issue.