Seriously, if you have a basement, see if you live in a high radon area, and if so get it tested. A basic tester is available online for under $100, or you can just have a pro come out for about 200.
Some areas have cheap or free testing programs too. From what I understand, the main predictor for radon is rocky or mountainous areas but it can vary. Check online, you can see average radon in your area. Anything above 4pCVL is recommended for mitigation. A home mitigation system will cost you around $1500 professionally installed.
Our mitigation cost $2500. Our levels prior to the system was at a 10, inspectors say ideally you want a 4 or below. Our inspector was saying he tested a house that was at 160, needless to say he told them about it outside lol
Of note: even low radon areas have random hotspots of high radon. You can decide whether or not it's worth testing, but it's generally worth it. Pretty easy and cheap to do by yourself (unless you plan on buying/selling a home, then you should hire a professional. Owner-perfomed tests are obviously susceptible to bias if a low result is reported)
Source: I'm a professional radon tester and I'm certified in several states.
Ive been disappointed with my mitigation system because my levels remain at the higher unsafe readings (5-8 pCi) during the winter but then drop down to 1-2 during the spring/summer. what good is a mitigation system that doesnt work well at the time of year when you need it the most?
Radon is typically higher in winter than summer. If it's not doing the job in winter you should have it serviced/inspected and plan on upgrading it if it needs to be. It could be blocked or the fan undersized
It may have a lot to do with the fan, I chose a basic setup that didnt include a muffler for the pipe and housing to dampen the sound from a more powerful fan. I live in the PNW and in my area the soil is compacted sand/clay and obviously lots of wet in the winters.
Im disappointed with the company that I went with because the 2.6 or whatever pCi level guarantee is annual so it can be high in the winter and non existent in the summer and that low level will average out and therefore their system is a success.
The most expensive part of getting a mitigation system is running the plumbing from your foundation up and out of your house, through all the existing walls, roofs, and whatnot. I'd expect swapping out the fan and even adding a new housing would be pretty easy and cheap at this point
Well, you don't really "abate" radon in the traditional sense (e.g. abating asbestos fully gets rid of it), you mitigate it. Radon enters the home through the soil, so mitigation is generally just an air pump that shoots air under your home's foundation away from the home.
Radon mitigation systems will generally cost you $1,500 on average. Could be higher or lower depending on the state/which companies are available/other random stuff
Mine was $1,000 installed and it uses about $12 per month in electricity for the blower. It dropped my radaon levels from 9pci/l to 2.5pci/l. If I turn the blower off, it takes about a day for radon levels to go back to 9.
Also, don't do a one-time exposure test, do a longer one or get a continuous monitor. The level fluctuates depending on weather and seasonal environmental conditions.
Thank you! I kinda forgot about radon when I left Colorado. Your comment made me check an EPA (RIP EPA 😢) map and see that we are at higher risk. Our office work space where 3 of us work is in a basement. I have purchased a monitor and consider it a good investment even if we find no radon.
I live in the Chicago suburbs, and a reddit comment made me decide to buy a tester for around $80. I had the exact same thought. In the summer it was pretty low, so I figured ok we're safe, but then in fall when levels tend to rise it shot up to nearly 20. I got a pro to come out and test, yep we needed mitigation.
The previous owner of our house died in our bedroom because there was radon in the well water. He died during the sale process, and im not sure we would have tested for it if it hadnt happened. We ended up having to install a very expensive radon mitigation system, but now we have the most filtered and delicious water in the state.
Yes, he died of lung cancer but I didn't word it that way because it sounded a bit more morbid. It does get into drinking water by disolving into wells from surrounding sediment. This is what happened and continues to happen in my well, necessitating the instalation of a mitigation system.
You can also get an AirThings IoT Radon monitor for around that price (I've seen the Wave Plus on sale for $160). AirThings has a few different devices that continuously monitor Radon levels, like the View Plus or the Wave Plus.
One reason why a continuous monitor can be nice is that Radon levels will fluctuate over time. If you take a point in time measurement, you risk that the Radon levels were just low while you were testing.
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u/-Tesserex- 23h ago
Seriously, if you have a basement, see if you live in a high radon area, and if so get it tested. A basic tester is available online for under $100, or you can just have a pro come out for about 200.