Our inspector just sent over the radon results and the house tested at 8.2 pCi/L. He said anything over 4 needs mitigation. We really love this house and its in a great school district but 8.2 sounds scary. Is this a dealbreaker? How much does fixing it cost and does it actually work? Never dealt with radon before and honestly freaking out a little.
7 Comments
Take a breath. 8.2 is elevated but very fixable. We had 12.4 in our house and after mitigation it dropped to 0.8. The system cost us $1,400 installed. A fan, some PVC pipe, and a few hours of work. Radon mitigation is one of the easiest 'problems' to solve in home buying.
12.4 to 0.8 is amazing. Did you have the seller install it or did you do it after closing?
seller installed it as condition of sale. they got quotes and used the cheapest one but the system works fine. we had it retested after moving in just to be sure
As an inspector, I see elevated radon constantly. Its incredibly common especially in certain regions. The mitigation systems have a 95%+ success rate. Most homes go from whatever elevated level down to 1-2 pCi/L after installation. Definitely not a reason to walk away from a house you love.
To put the health risk in perspective - 8.2 pCi/L is about equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes per day in terms of lung cancer risk, IF you lived in that environment 24/7 for decades. Its not nothing but its also not an immediate emergency. Fix it and move on. My house had 6.0 and with mitigation its now 0.9. Zero stress about it now.
Moved from California to Colorado 2 years ago and had never even heard of radon before. Our house tested at 7.8 and i was ready to run. Realtor talked us off the ledge, seller put in mitigation, now we test at 1.1. The system is just a quiet fan in the basement that runs 24/7. Electric cost is maybe $5/month. Seriously not a big deal once its fixed. Buy the house if you love it.
Just want to throw out one more data point. Our house tested at 9.1 during inspection and we almost walked. Glad we didnt. Seller agreed to install mitigation as a condition and it came in at $1,100. Retested at 1.3 after install. What nobody tells you is that radon levels fluctuate seasonally too, so your 8.2 might be lower in summer. Either way the fix is simple and cheap compared to basically any other major inspection finding. Dont lose a great house over something a fan and some PVC can solve.