Radon Measurement

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the united states.  Accordig to the PA-DEP and the EPA testing is the only way to verify its presence in a home.  Additionally Pennsylvania is know for being high in Radon.  The highest radon ever recorded in a home was in a Pennsylvania home.

Over 1/2 of radon testing in Western Pennsylvania comes up positive for high lievels of radon. A high level is anything over 4 pCi/l.  My highest level ever measured was 125 pCi/l.

Remediation is comparatively inexpensive.  $800-$1500 depending upon size of house and how porous the earth is underneath is.  That may sound expensive, but when compared to other significant defeciences home inspectors find in a house Radon can be cheap by comparison.  Cracked foundations, roofs, furnaces, and A/C systems are all more expensive to replace then installing a radon remediation system, and none of those cause cancer.

A test consists of leaving an active monitoring system in the basement of the house for two days.  The system takes hourly measurements and at the end of the testing period averages those readings to get the final value.  During the test the occupents are required to keep all windows and doors close, except for normal egress.

When a system indicates that a house is high in radon, and a remediation is required.  The system normally installed is referred to as a subslab suction system.  This system is not as complicated as its name would suggest.  It is a pipe that is run into the basement slab.  The upper end of the pipe is then run outside.  A fan is then placed on the pipe.  That fan then sucks all the air out from under the house, and with it the radon gas.