Testing For Radon Before Buying A Home: 3 Reasons To Use A Professional Service Instead Of A DIY Kit

If you're buying a home, it's a good idea to have its radon gas levels tested before you close on the purchase. Radon gas occurs naturally in the soil, and there's no real way of knowing if a home has high radon gas levels or not without testing it. Since radon gas can cause health problems, such as lung cancer, it's important to mitigate high radon gas levels if they are discovered in a home.

It's easy to find DIY test kits for radon gas. These include charcoal canisters and alpha-track kits. They're inexpensive, but they're not the best option when you want to truly know the levels of radon gas inside the home you're thinking about buying.

Professional testers use special equipment that constantly monitors the level of radon gas within the home, which is much more reliable. To learn three reasons why you should use professional radon testing instead of a DIY test kit to measure levels of radon gas in a home before you purchase it, read on.

1. Short-Term DIY Tests Are Unreliable

When you're testing a home for radon before you close on the sale, you're limited in the amount of time you have available for testing. This limits you to a test period of a few days. Unfortunately, this isn't ideal for DIY tests.

The problem is that radon levels in a home can fluctuate wildly. DIY tests, both charcoal canister tests and alpha-track tests, work by measuring the average level of radon gas in the home over the course of the test. This is a useful testing method when the test lasts for months or longer, but it can be unreliable when the test only lasts for a few days.

For example,  rainfall causes radon gas levels to rise sharply since the water will push radon gas upwards as it sinks into the soil. If it rains constantly during the test period, you'll likely receive erroneous readings. When the test period is so short, events like rainfall can have a massive effect on the final measurement.

However, you won't encounter this problem with professional testing. The continuous radon monitoring equipment that professionals use will constantly monitor and record the level of radon gas in the home. They also measure barometric pressure, which allows you to see if any sudden increases in radon levels were due to rain (rain causes a drop in barometric pressure.) With fully recorded radon measurements over time, you're better able to understand the level of radon gas within the home compared to just taking the average.

2. Homeowners Can Tamper With DIY Tests

Since DIY tests just report the average level of radon gas in the home, it's easy for homeowners to tamper with them. People who are selling their homes may feel inclined to do this when they think the sale will fall through if radon gas levels are high.

Charcoal canisters and alpha-track test kits can simply be placed in an airtight jar in order to prevent any radon from entering them. This will cause very low readings, regardless of the level of radon in the home, and there's no way for you to know that the homeowner tampered with the test kit.

With continuous radon monitoring, however, you don't have to worry about this happening. You would immediately know if the device was tampered with since radon measurements would drop precipitously if the homeowner put the device in a jar or placed a bag over it in order to prevent radon from entering. If the measurements look strange, a professional radon testing service will be able to alert you to possible tampering.

3. Professional Radon Testing Is Inexpensive

Many people opt for DIY test kits because they're cheap, but professional testing isn't that much more expensive. When you're making a major purchase like buying a home, it makes sense to pay a bit of extra money to ensure that the radon testing is performed correctly. You'll have a much better idea of the true radon levels inside the home. If it's high, you'll always have the option of asking the homeowner to have radon mitigation performed before you purchase the home.

If you're buying a home and want to test it for radon, you should always opt for professional radon testing. Homeowners can't tamper with the results, and it's the only method of short-term testing that's accurate. Contact a radon testing company in your area and ask about their services — the test can be performed in a few days, and they'll ensure that the continuous radon monitoring equipment is placed in the best location to give a correct reading.

Share