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radon testing
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What is Radon?
What is Radon?
Radon is an invisible radioactive gas that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium and radium in soil, rock and water. Radon moves up through the ground and can get pulled into your your home from the “stack effect”, where hot air rises and pulls new air and Radon gas from below. Radon enters the home through air gaps in basements and crawl spaces. Breathing high levels of Radon for long periods of time can potentially result in Lung Cancer. The EPA describes Radon in Homes as the #1 cause of Lung Cancer for non-smokers and recommends that all Homebuyers test for Radon. We find high levels of Radon almost half of the homes that we test in the Denver Metro area. Radon can be found in all ages and quality levels of homes.
Benefits to Testing
The two main benefits of testing for Radon are to:
1. avoid the chance of lung cancer,
2. be able to ask the seller to install a Radon Mitigation system if the levels are high. The typical cost of a Radon Mitigation System is between $1,000 and $1,500.
Typical Mitigation System
Self test kits are available on the internet and at most hardware stores. These kits typically take over 10 days to receive the results and in most cases, a seller will only accept a Radon report done by a professional. If you choose not to test as part of the purchase process, we highly recommend testing after taking possession of the house.
HomeSpy testing
We use Continuous Radon Monitors that give instant results at the end of an EPA minimum 48 hour testing period. We can start the test 2-3 days prior to your Inspection and get results at the Inspection, or we can start it at the Inspection and have results 2-3 days later. The results will be expressed as picocuries per liter (pCi/L). Basically, a pCi/L is a measure used to determine how much radon gas is present. The EPA recommends a radon mitigation plan for every reading greater than 4 pCi/L.
For more information, click the links below:
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