If you’ve been putting off testing your home for radon for months (or even years), it’s time to put it back on your to-do list. It’s one of those things that you know you should do, but often gets pushed to the side in favor of more exciting home projects where you notice an immediate difference, like hanging curtains or painting a room. But you’ll probably be able to enjoy the room and curtains more knowing that you’re safe from radon. Here’s how to test for and get rid of radon—and how to safeguard against it becoming an issue in the first place.
What is radon?
Radon is sneaky. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it's a colorless, odorless, invisible, naturally occurring radioactive gas that results from the breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water. From there, it can get into the air we breathe—including the air in our homes, offices, and schools.
But because we spend much of our time at home, there is concern over undetected radon in our places of residence. And elevated radon levels aren’t confined to one geographic region; the gas can be found anywhere.
All of this matters because radon is bad for your health. As in, the EPA estimates that radon may cause thousands of deaths each year, and the Surgeon General says that radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. after smoking.
How to test your home for radon
Fortunately, testing your home for radon is easy and relatively quick. You just need to pick up a short-term or long-term Accu-Star-certified radon test online, at your local home improvement store, or directly from the company’s website.
Short-term testing kits measure radon levels for between two and seven days. If this is the first time you’re doing a radon test in your home, start with a short-term test so it’ll take less time to find out if you have a radon problem. After that, you may want to opt for a long-term testing kit, which measures radon levels for at least 90 days.
On the Accu-Star website, the tests run from $26 for a short-term kit, to $35 for a long-term kit. You can also purchase discounted kits through the National Radon Program Services at Kansas State University, which costs $17 for a short-term kit and $27 for a long-term kit.
Recommended products:
Portable radon home detector ($94.99 discounted)
How to get rid of radon in your home
If the results of your radon test indicate that there are high levels of the gas in your home—that’s anywhere above 4 picocuries per liter of air (pCI/L)—then it’s time to call in a professional. Getting rid of radon is not a DIY job, so contact your state EPA office for a list of qualified mitigation contractors in your area.
A radon mitigation contractor can assess your home to determine what kind of work will be required to deal with the issue, which will vary based on your home's foundation and where you live. They'll also be able to make recommendations for preventing problems in the future, including sealing up cracks in your foundation.
You should re-test your home after any professional mitigation work is done, and its a good idea to continually monitor the situation with a portable radon detector. Therse can also be purchased online; Airthing Corentium makes one that can monitor your home for around 10 years, providing both short- and longterm readings, and which you can get on Amazon.
How to prevent radon from becoming a problem
There are also things you can do yourself to help protect your home (and the people living in it) from radon: install a passive radon control. According to the EPA, you can:
Seal cracks in your basement and foundation to reduce the flow of radon into your home
Depending on the design of your home, a fan system can be used to blow air into your basement from other areas of the home, increasing the air pressure enough to keep radon from entering the home
Install a heat recovery ventilator (HRV), which continually refreshes the air in your home with outdoor air, to better ventilate your entire home