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I rent a house. Both houses on either side of me have radon vents, mine does not. But I can see they've got basements, mine is on slab (no basement or crawlspac

by nope96 4y ago

I rent a house. Both houses on either side of me have radon vents, mine does not. But I can see they've got basements, mine is on slab (no basement or crawlspace). I asked the landlord if this house was ever tested, he said not to worry since there is no basement. Is there an easy, reliable way for me to test for radon, or am I worrying too much?

yurymik 4y ago
There are cheap low-tech solutions [1] and more expensive high-tech [2] 1: https://www.homedepot.com/p/LABTECH-Radon-Detection-Test-Kit-LT5110/304094747 https://www.homedepot.com/p/LABTECH-Radon-Detection-Test-Kit... 2: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery-Operated-Digital-Radon-Detector-223/313732652 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery...
bcrosby95 4y ago
Note that a basement doesn't necessarily matter. We have slab-on-grade and our radon levels are borderline "do something about it" - our yearly average seems to be around 2.0. We went with https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery-Operated-Digital-Radon-Detector-223/313732652 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery... which the other commenter suggested as a more expensive solution. I bought this because California county Radon maps showed us in a "tan" area, meaning "moderate" risk of Radon above 4.0. Here's an example of one such map: https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/Documents/Publications/Special-Reports/SR_194-Radon-Map.pdf https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/Documents/Publications/S... Note that radon levels varied greatly in our house by both weather and time of year.
myself248 4y ago
Yes, if tampering isn't a concern, the at-home test kits are cheap and reliable. (Edit: In a real-estate transaction, there's plenty of incentive to cheat, so the continuous-monitors used in those situations include all sorts of other sensors -- accelerometers, temperature and humidity, barometric pressure, etc -- to tell if someone just opens all the windows, or carries it outside, etc. My dad used to do this work and I saw some wacky printouts indeed, from where unscrupulous agents had gone to any length to make sure the test produced a low reading.) Charcoal canisters are cheaper but only do a short-term snapshot. Get an alpha-track and do a long-term test, which gives you a much more reliable picture of your exposure. You can absolutely do both. There are also continuous monitors which are more expensive still, but some folks just love live data. If you hadn't mentioned neighbors on both sides, I'd say as a slab-dweller, you might be worrying too much. But that definitely points to uranium in the local soil, and while slabs are generally at significantly lower risk than basements, your situation is one where it's definitely worth testing!
clairity 4y ago
you can get an airthings device like the view plus[0] (i actually have the older wave plus) for continuous sampling of your radon levels. [0]: https://www.airthings.com/view-plus https://www.airthings.com/view-plus
ars 4y ago
Buy this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003C5BZYA/ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003C5BZYA/ Follow the instructions to the letter (use the hole, tie a string to it and suspend the test in the middle of the room, in an area away from traffic and away from air currents). I recommend using two, on opposite sides of the room. Then leave it there for a year. Many places have seasonal variation in radon, so while you can do a 3 month test, I recommend a 1 year test.

by nope96 4y ago

yurymik 4y ago

There are cheap low-tech solutions [1] and more expensive high-tech [2] 1: https://www.homedepot.com/p/LABTECH-Radon-Detection-Test-Kit-LT5110/304094747 https://www.homedepot.com/p/LABTECH-Radon-Detection-Test-Kit... 2: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery-Operated-Digital-Radon-Detector-223/313732652 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery...

bcrosby95 4y ago

Note that a basement doesn't necessarily matter. We have slab-on-grade and our radon levels are borderline "do something about it" - our yearly average seems to be around 2.0. We went with https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery-Operated-Digital-Radon-Detector-223/313732652 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Airthings-Corentium-Home-Battery... which the other commenter suggested as a more expensive solution. I bought this because California county Radon maps showed us in a "tan" area, meaning "moderate" risk of Radon above 4.0. Here's an example of one such map: https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/Documents/Publications/Special-Reports/SR_194-Radon-Map.pdf https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/Documents/Publications/S... Note that radon levels varied greatly in our house by both weather and time of year.

myself248 4y ago

Yes, if tampering isn't a concern, the at-home test kits are cheap and reliable. (Edit: In a real-estate transaction, there's plenty of incentive to cheat, so the continuous-monitors used in those situations include all sorts of other sensors -- accelerometers, temperature and humidity, barometric pressure, etc -- to tell if someone just opens all the windows, or carries it outside, etc. My dad used to do this work and I saw some wacky printouts indeed, from where unscrupulous agents had gone to any length to make sure the test produced a low reading.) Charcoal canisters are cheaper but only do a short-term snapshot. Get an alpha-track and do a long-term test, which gives you a much more reliable picture of your exposure. You can absolutely do both. There are also continuous monitors which are more expensive still, but some folks just love live data. If you hadn't mentioned neighbors on both sides, I'd say as a slab-dweller, you might be worrying too much. But that definitely points to uranium in the local soil, and while slabs are generally at significantly lower risk than basements, your situation is one where it's definitely worth testing!

clairity 4y ago

you can get an airthings device like the view plus[0] (i actually have the older wave plus) for continuous sampling of your radon levels. [0]: https://www.airthings.com/view-plus https://www.airthings.com/view-plus

ars 4y ago

Buy this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003C5BZYA/ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003C5BZYA/ Follow the instructions to the letter (use the hole, tie a string to it and suspend the test in the middle of the room, in an area away from traffic and away from air currents). I recommend using two, on opposite sides of the room. Then leave it there for a year. Many places have seasonal variation in radon, so while you can do a 3 month test, I recommend a 1 year test.