About a month ago I saw a segment on the news about the dangers of radon gas. If you aren’t familiar, radon is an odorless, colorless, cancer causing gas that is a result of decaying uranium in the ground and comes in to your home through the cracks in the floors and walls. Some areas have higher levels than others. I had heard of its negative effects before so I thought it a good idea to do a test in our home to check our radon levels.
I bought this test kit at Home Depot for under $20.
You simply open the two containers, follow the directions, and after 3 days you close them up and send them in to a test lab. About a week later we got the results back which reported we had levels of 10. To give you perspective, the EPA recommends you take action to reduce radon for anything over a 4.
Fortunately, there are companies out there that can reduce the level of radon in your home by installing a mitigation system (which is a good thing because we had all been holding our breath since we received the results).
The first thing they do is drill a hole in your basement floor.
A pipe is then installed in the hole and extends all the way to the roof.
Our pipe went from the basement in to the garage then up through the roof.
A fan is connected to the tube which is right at the base of the roof that sucks the radon gas that lies beneath the house. As a part of the process all cracks need to be sealed in the basement floor with a silicone-type caulk.
I’ll admit, it’s not the prettiest procedure but it sure beats lung cancer. Final bill was about $1400. (I knew you’d ask).
Now if our polluted, Salt Lake City air would just clear out…my husband joked he might have a better chance at avoiding lung problems by sucking the air out of the top of the radon tube vs. breathing our icky city air. Have you checked your home for radon?
Hey there! I’m Michelle; I’m an Passionate DIY’er and in constant pursuit of how to bring beauty to my house full of men (3 boys + 1 hubby). Stick around and see what I’ve got up my hard-working sleaves!
when we moved into our new house we had it checked during inspection and our levels were high too (much to the surprise of the previous owners). Luckily the cost of ours was only around $500 (rural va)!
glad you got yours taken care of too! 🙂
Ok…now I am finally ready to break open the Radon test kit I bought from home depot 2 years ago and never used!!!
Thanks for the reminder. I’ve been telling myself to do this since we moved in {7 years ago}. Putting it at the top of my to do list. no more procrastinating this one. not worth it.
we had a 3.99 during our home inspo which was rounded up to 4 = danger. we found our sumpump wasn’t sealed properly at all (it was gaping open, nothing anchoring the cover down at all.) We got a new, better-fitting cover and sealed it with silicone caulk and screws. New test took it down to 3 = safe! We can still take the cover off if we ever need to access it, we’ll just reseal it for peace of mind. i’m glad you did a post on this!
We purchased a spec house 3yrs ago & prior to purchase we made the builder run a test. It is typically very high in our town. Sure enough it was high and he installed the mitigation system prior to closing. Cost: $0. 🙂
it was part of the home inspection process, MAYBE IT WAS A 1? IT WASN’T VERY HIGH THANKFULLY.
are you going to do a re-test? it would be interesting to know how much it dropped.
I’ve never heard about it out here in Tucson…is it common here? I’ll have to ask an expert (my dad) and see if we should do it! Thanks for the great post and I’m glad you are safe now!
Our results were…..14. we had a system installed. Hope it is working.
I have heard that in my area of the country that Radon is big. Since I am searching for a new home I am making sure that the new house is tested and fixed as part of the sale agreement. Not going to deal with Radon in my house.