Have You Had Your Home Tested For Radon?
Radon is a leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is found in homes but it can be mitigated. It is a natural radioactive gas that one cannot smell, see or taste. I have sold homes without elevated levels of radon and homes with high levels of radon which had a mitigation system installed. One home may have radon while another home does not. How do you know if your house has radon? Test it!!
In Illinois when a home is on the market a seller is required to sign a disclosure pertaining to radon. The seller is required to disclose if they are: Aware of elevated levels of Radon, have a mitigation system or are not aware. That is all sellers are required to do - they do not need to test their home. In turn, when the home goes under contract the buyer has a choice if they would like to do a radon test or not - the cost is around $200.00 depending on the size of the home and if the house has a crawl and a basement. The test takes 48-72 hours and results are available as soon as the test is concluded.
As a Real Estate Professional when I am representing a buyer I always recommend this additional testing during the inspection period. Why? This is the buyer's only opportunity to check if the home has a safety deficiency and if the test results show radon levels above 4 then the buyer may ask for the deficiency to be corrected. The seller will need to install a mitigation system to correct the deficiency or disclose the findings of the test on the radon disclosure to another potential buyer. I have found that most sellers install a mitigation system if the test results show an elevated level of radon. Once a mitigation system is put in place the home is no longer a health hazard. Also, as noted above one cannot smell, taste or see radon so when a seller hears he has elevated levels of radon they quickly want to resolve the problem for their own health too. The cost of a mitigation system varies in price depending on the size of the home. For further information on mitigating a home I suggest contacting VSI. I have referred many clients to them and all have been very happy and have peace of mind once the system is installed.
Did you recently move into a home and didn't do a radon test? Have you lived in your home for a long time? No
worries. Radon Detection Specialists (the company which I suggest to all of my clients when they purchase a home and want to do a radon test) has a home kit that is available. This home kit is the perfect solution for those of you who have not had a radon test done on your home. The homeowner leaves the canister out for at least thirty days and then sends the canister to a lab for the results. The cost of each kit is $25.00- it includes one canister, a return label and the results for the test. I highly recommend the home kit - it may show that there is radon in your home (which will be an expense to mitigate) or it will give you peace of mind knowing that your home is RADON FREE. Either way I think that it's important for all to find out.
Doing what we can to stay healthy is important!!!!
The above article, Have You Tested Your Home For Radon, was written by Noah Levy - a REALTOR assisting buyers and sellers with their Real Estate needs.
* Credit to Radon Detection Specialists for pictures.
For more information regarding homes for sale or listing your property in Highland Park IL, Glencoe, Kenilworth, Wilmette, Winnetka, Deerfield and other surrounding Chicago North Shore suburbs check out my website Noahlevyhomes.com give me a call at 312.203.2416 or email noah.levy@cbexchange.com.
I look forward to hearing from you!
"Noah Knows Real Estate!"
All rights reserved. No copy writing permitted without written permission.
Great Post on Radon, have not heard much about this recently, very timely.
Good info...
Some homebuyers (and even some agents) believe that if the neighbor's house has been tested and found to be a low level, then the home that they are buying will also be low. This is not necessarily the case. You can't be 100% sure until the home is tested.
If tested high, a mitigation system can run around $1500.00 and will aleviate the high levels of radon. Even with a mit system installed, it is recommended to have radon levels checked every few years. A small price to pay to eliminate the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer.
Jeff
Noah, this is a great post. Everyone should have the peace of mind that their own home does not have radon
Mary, Jeff & Judy
It's the little things we can do - like a radon test - that can make a big difference to our entire family
Radon mitigation fans run continuously and don't last forever. The average lifespan of a radon mitigation fan is about 10 years but it is not uncommon for fans to fail after 5 years. If you have an active radon mitigation system (one with a fan) you should retest your house every couple of years so you will know if your mitigation system is still protecting you.
Bruce
I agree - I always advise my clients to retest every three years!
Two yers. Three years. There's not much difference. The important thing is to RETEST.
I have been in houses with older radon mitigation systems that were doing nothing. The fan motor may have still been running but the fan was not moving any air. Many of the older systems did not have any instrumentation to show whether the fan was creating a negative pressure or not. I have seen mitigation systems with instrumentation that clearly shows the fan is not creating any negative pressure and the homeowners either never looked at it or didn't understand what the instruments were telling them.
A good rule of thumb is to retest every two or three years.