What is Radon? Do I need to test for it?

Connie,

With a 25 year career in Nuclear Medicine, this is very important.  It is a very easy test to do and there are ways to resolve issues if you discover you have high radon levels in your home.

I think it is a fairly inexpensive test as well.  It is worth your health to have this test done.

I live in SE, FL and I have had to have a system put in place to make sure the air exchange is such that I am not breathing radon. The exchange is a fan that brings in fresh air every other hour during a 24 hour period.  Get's expensive here in the summer with the A/D running, but as I said before, well worth your health and your lungs.

I had no idea that January was National Radon Action Month!  I had a client whose Radon tests came back high last summer.  It was fairly easy to get a remdiation system in place so it's easy to test for & easy to remediate.  It makes sense to do it!

This is so over looked in my market area. Thanks for the reminder.

Radon has tested positive in 2 sales for me over about 15 years. In both cases a radon mitigation system was installed and everyone lived happily ever after.

Connie, Thank you for posting this.  Here in Colorado we have radon in our area.  I have a bank owned property that tested at 7, I got the bank to "fix" the radon mitigation system and now they are re-testing for us.  At this time, radon is not on the appraisers check list, or watch list for now,  I think this may change in time. 

A great informative post!  I haven't dealt with any Radon positive tests in any homes that we've sold. Will check out the links.  Thanks!

Connie, I didn't realize it was National Radon Action Month, so thank you for letting us know. We are big proponents of having our buyers do a radon test because we have seen some high levels in our market area. It seems like a lot of buyers aren't really aware about the dangers of radon gas, but when it does come up, mitigation is fairly inexpensive here. 

I have only had one person test radon in MN and I do a lot of sales, I keep thinking more people would request this but they dont.

Connie, Radon can also be a problem in my area. A few years back one of my listings had high Radon levels. A ventilation system was put in the corner of the basement and the problem was fixed.

Knowing that the acceptable safe levels are varied by state and areas in those states. Thanks for making people aware of this.

Connie

Down here in Galveston we don't hear much about testing for Radon. I appreciate the link to the map.  I will be reading up on this more! 

Thanks for making a complex topic easier to understand!

Here in Utah, we are starting to see higher levels during testing, mostly occurring in REO or other vacant homes. In many cases, just normal "coming and going" through the doors will lower the number dramatically. As to the map, here in Tooele County we've had off the chart readings in one house and minimal numbers two doors down, so we have just learned to test, test, test! Thanks for the post!

I have had more than a few dozen radon situations. Out mitigation level starts at 4. The test cost about $125 and can almost always be corrected for around $1000. Occasionally with an extensive crawl space when they need more than on sump pump, it can be more costly.

Connie,

There are no crawl spaces or basements here in Florida.  If you go down 4 feet you in water.  We are all built on long steel pilings that are pounded deep into the ground, but we do have Radon issues here too.