Radon?! (Richmond, Reston, Fairfax: real estate, buying a home, buying)

[KatSRVA]

Hello,

My two year old home recently failed one of those Home Depot radon tests. The results came back 4.6 (with a 4 being the highest considered safe). Since it's beyond the window of time when the builder will come in and install a fan for free, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions.

Are the Home Depot tests accurate? Should I hire someone else to confirm the test? Or should I just assume I have radon and have the fan installed?

And who would I get to install it? Are there radon specialists I have to work with?

Thanks.

[ShannonMilligan]

Why not have a radon company come and check to make sure? They cost about $165-$200 depending on the company. They will bring a testing box, let it sti for 2-3 days and then will give you the results right away.

Radon is not a big deal as long as you get a mitigation system. Here in Richmond the system costs about $1200-$1500 depending on the way the vent it. We had our new home tested and it came back at 13. We had the system put, re-tested, and the level is below 1 now. Our builder, Ryan Homes, doesn't put mitigation systems in (at least not here in our area) so we knew it would be on our dime. I was okay with that as I knew it upfront and there is no price on safety when it comes to my kids.

Good luck! If you need a name of a company up there, let me know as I used to work for a real estate team and know they can give you someone great.

[ceomom703]

Here in Loudoun, radon seems to be a concern so we opted to have a system put it. Can't remember the company we used but I got estimates and they were all about the same at $900. Our installation was pretty common -- up from the basement through the garage and out the garage roof.

It's a big relief knowing we've eliminated the high levels of radon in our home.

[ICS67]

I would second twinmma's suggestion to get a professional come and do the test rather than rely just on one of the commercially available test kits from Home Depot.

We have a radon remediation system in our house. When the ventilation fan died and needed to be replaced, we used a local company based in Reston, Radon Control Professionals, to replace the fan. I found the service technician who came to our house quite good. The same company had installed the original remediation system for a previous owner in 1993 for $800, so I'm guessing the price for such an installation now would be at least double.If you want to check them out, their website is Radon Control Professionals-Remediation by Experienced Scientists since 1987.

Good luck.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

How come a radon test was not done on your home when you bought it? Isnt that the law?

[ACWhite]

Originally Posted by Fairfax Mom

How come a radon test was not done on your home when you bought it? Isnt that the law?

It wasn't required by law when I bought during the bubble. And the home inspector I hired (who is supposed to be one of the best) didn't do radon testing. Maybe the law has changed since then, maybe not.

[Lucky★]

There are links to listed radon specialists at this VA state website-

Mitigation

[ShannonMilligan]

It's not the law to test...it's a choice. Many people often don't test in homes where there is already a radon system in place...which if I were buying a home I think I would test it anyway to make sure it is in good working order.

edit: but it IS law that a seller disclose if they know they have radon and it's the real estate agents job to inform buyers and sellers about disclosures.

[KatSRVA]

Originally Posted by ICS67

I would second twinmma's suggestion to get a professional come and do the test rather than rely just on one of the commercially available test kits from Home Depot.

We have a radon remediation system in our house. When the ventilation fan died and needed to be replaced, we used a local company based in Reston, Radon Control Professionals, to replace the fan. I found the service technician who came to our house quite good. The same company had installed the original remediation system for a previous owner in 1993 for $800, so I'm guessing the price for such an installation now would be at least double.If you want to check them out, their website is Radon Control Professionals-Remediation by Experienced Scientists since 1987.

Good luck.

Everything I've read says the Home Depot tests aren't wildly accurate b/c the results come out on the low side (according to Consumer Reports). So, if I failed with a Home Depot test I at least know I have radon, right?

I'm guessing I should go ahead and have the system installed. Thanks for the recommendation.

[OldNavy1]

Before remediating for such a marginal radon level, consider the following results from a 2008 paper (Thompson et al), published in Health Physics.

A study of lung cancer risk from residential radon exposure and its radioactive progeny was performed with 200 cases (58% male, 42% female) and 397 controls matched on age and sex, all from the same health maintenance organization. Emphasis was placed on accurate and extensive year-long dosimetry with etch-track detectors in conjunction with careful questioning about historic patterns of in-home mobility. Conditional logistic regression was used to model the outcome of cancer on radon exposure, while controlling for years of residency, smoking, education, income, and years of job exposure to known or potential carcinogens. Smoking was accounted for by nine categories: never smokers, four categories of current smokers, and four categories of former smokers. Radon exposure was divided into six categories (model 1) with break points at 25, 50, 75, 150, and 250 Bq m, the lowest being the reference. Surprisingly, the adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were, in order, 1.00, 0.53, 0.31, 0.47, 0.22, and 2.50 with the third category significantly below 1.0 (p < 0.05), and the second, fourth, and fifth categories approaching statistical significance (p < 0.1). An alternate analysis (model 2) using natural cubic splines allowed calculating AORs as a continuous function of radon exposure. That analysis produces AORs that are substantially less than 1.0 with borderline statistical significance (0.048 < or = p < or = 0.05) between approximately 85 and 123 Bq m. College-educated subjects in comparison to high-school dropouts have a significant reduction in cancer risk after controlling for smoking, years of residency, and job exposures with AOR = 0.30 (95% CI: 0.13, 0.69), p = 0.005 (model 1).