St. Louis Real Estate – Radon Testing A-B-C’s

RADON TESTING by Harry Morrell, ASHI Certified Inspector, #203651

Do I have Radon or NOT!!! Radon Testing and presence should be a concern to both home owners listing their home for sale and home buyers making a purchase. As for sellers, getting ready to list their home, Radon Testing, should be included with a full building inspection and termite inspection, when your inspector provides you with a pre-listing inspection. If these three roadblocks are addressed before listing your house, it is highly likely that the transaction will go through smoothly. It is also recommended that home buyers obtain a Radon test with their full building inspection and termite inspection.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas produced by the breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water. Air pressure inside your home is usually lower than the pressure in the soil around your home’s foundation. Because of this difference in pressure, your house acts like a vacuum, drawing radon in through foundation cracks and other openings at and around the foundation and slab floor. Throughout the United States, Radon gas in the soil is the principal source of elevated Radon levels in residential homes.

Radon is estimated to cause thousands of lung cancer deaths each year. The Surgeon General of the United States has warned that Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths. Smokers and young children are the highest at risk people for lung cancer caused by high levels of Radon.

Since you cannot see or smell Radon, special testing equipment is used to measure levels of Radon in your home. There are many self tests in the market place that untrained people can use. However, trained Radon professionals are highly recommended to conduct testing during a real estate transaction to limit your liability. Typically, a 48 hour test is recommended for real estate transactions. If high levels are detected a mitigation system must be installed to remove the Radon gas. This mitigation system uses a mechanical venting system that runs 24/7. The installation is simple, but can only be performed by a qualified contractor. Once the system is installed and operating properly, the Radon gas is always reduced to safe levels.

Call your ASHI certified inspector for further details and any concerns you may have about Radon in your home.

Harry can be contacted at harrymorrell@stlouisrealestatevoice.com

To learn more about Radon and Real Estate continue reading here:

Tags: Radon+Gas, Radon+Mitigation, EPA, Surgeon+General, Home+sellers, Home+buyers, Radon+Test, Ashi, lung+cancer+risk

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 8:51 am and is filed under Building Inspection News, First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers, For Sellers, Real Estate News, Relocation Buyer, Unrepresented Seller(FSBO). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Comments »

Lynne Eldridge MD said:

Thanks for raising awareness about radon! Unfortunately, the medical profession has been very poor about addressing this serious and very preventable issue. Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US, but is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers. We hear a lot about prevention against skin cancer, yet three times as many people die from cancer secondary to radon. Thanks!

Lynne Eldridge MD
Author, “Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time: Practical Advice for Preventing Cancer”
http://www.avoidcancernow.com

# 30 August 2007 at 12:54 pm