Radon in your home is no joke. It's worth finding out whether you have elevated levels. (Getty)
It happened innocently enough, starting with this post on our neighborhood Facebook group: "Hey, neighbors. We're in the process of moving, and the inspection turned up above-recommended levels of radon. If you haven't already, you might want to get your house checked."
Radon? Don't we already have a detection thingy for that? No, that's carbon monoxide. What the heck is radon? Says the EPA: "Radon is an invisible radioactive gas — you can't see or smell it, but it can be deadly. Take action against the second leading cause of lung cancer."
My eyes became saucers. Because guess who works from home and is therefore potentially exposed to it all day, every day? This guy.
Thankfully, radon testing kits are cheap and easy to use, if not especially quick. I ran to the local hardware store and picked up a $15 kit (also available from Amazon) that works like this: Open it up in the lowest level of your home (in our case the basement), let it sit for 2-4 days, then mail it to the testing lab. Results should arrive 3-5 days after the lab receives it.
While I waited, I ventured down the radon rabbit hole. What constitutes an unsafe level? What can happen with long-term exposure? What is radon mitigation? And, of course, the big one: What is this going to cost me?
A silent killer, that's what. It's naturally occurring, it comes up from the ground, and if your home has basement floor drains, cracks in the foundation or even just a standard-issue sump pump, bam: It can seep through.
Was my home tested for radon when I purchased it nearly 25 years ago? I have no idea. What shocks me is that this is the first time I've tested for it, and it's only because a neighbor mentioned it. I didn't know it existed, and I certainly didn't know the risks.
Indeed, while it's common knowledge that homes need smoke detectors and slightly less common knowledge that they need carbon-monoxide detectors, when did radon enter the conversation? Again, it was news to me. Potentially bad, bad news.
According to the EPA, "There is no known safe level of exposure to radon." Um, what now? The agency also notes that the average indoor radon concentration for homes in the U.S. is about 1.3 pCi/L (picocuries per liter, whatever that means).
If testing reveals anything in the 2-4 pCi/L range, the EPA recommends radon mitigation, which I'll explain below. Why? Because radon exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer among smokers and the leading cause among nonsmokers! I don't smoke, never have, but suddenly I'm facing the same kind of potential risk? Oy.
The test results arrived via e-mail a few days later, as expected, and they were not good:
According to this, my home's radon level was 6.0 pCi/L — well above the recommended-action range. But how serious was this, really?
The EPA has a chart laying out the risks. At 4.0 pCi/L, "about seven people could get lung cancer" (out of 1,000), which is comparable to the risk of dying in a car crash. At 8.0 pCi/L, 15 people out of 1,000 are at risk of lung cancer.
My 6.0 level put me smack in the middle of those numbers. Admittedly, that's still a fairly low risk overall; 12 people out of 1,000 is 1.2%. But as noted above, I work from home and have for decades. I couldn't find anything on the EPA site regarding long-term exposure, but here's something from the rabbit hole (namely, the accredited lab Environmental Hazard Services): "If you are exposed to radon repeatedly for 20 years or more, you are at a higher risk of developing serious health complications. The most common and notable is lung cancer."
As with anything so potentially serious, I wanted a second opinion. Maybe that short-term test was an anomaly? Shouldn't I try to gather results over a longer period? (Yes, psychologists would likely call this "denial.")
The short-term test was basically a little tray of activated charcoal. I'm a gadget guy; surely there must be some high-tech way to conduct longer-term testing?
I found one in the form of the Airthings View Radon, a battery-powered radon detector that also measures temperature and humidity. It connects via Wi-Fi to a mobile app, meaning you can check levels anytime, anywhere. Here's a quickie review before I return to my own radon story.
The View Radon is a stylish smart-home device that gives you daily readings of the radon levels in your home, both on its E Ink screen and in the Airthings companion app.
It's easy to set up and use, though I did struggle a bit with the way the app displays data. Whether you're buying this for a second opinion after a short-term test or just want to keep long-term tabs on your radon levels, it's a pricey but effective tool.
Read my full Airthings View Radon review to learn more.
Although the View Radon produces fairly immediate readings, the app recommends leaving it in place for at least 30 days to get an accurate picture of your levels. Which I did, parking it in the exact same basement spot as the short-term test.
It was interesting to see how much the levels varied from day to day, occasionally approaching that same 6.0 pCi/L but sometimes dipping below 2.0. After 30 days, the View Radon indicated an average level of 3.9 pCi/L — not the more alarming number produced by the short-term test, but still at the top end of the "take action" range indicated by the EPA.
Moving further into denial, I wondered whether the risk was higher in the basement. So I brought the View Radon up to the main floor and once again let it sit for 30 days. Early on, I noticed the levels were mostly below 2.0. Aha! I was right (or was I?) that this is solely a basement problem, and I'm rarely down there.
Alas, the numbers crept up again, occasionally jumping as high as 5.9. In the end, I was looking at an average of 3.2 — a bit lower overall, but still square within the "take action" recommendation. Ugh.
Radon mitigation is exactly what it sounds like: a system that lowers indoor levels by extracting radon from the soil and venting it to the outside, typically with a fan. (This mitigates the problem. There's your word of the day.)
I won't get into the more technical details, in part because these systems can vary depending on where you live, the nature of your house, the radon levels detected and so on. Suffice it to say, I contacted two local companies that specialize in radon mitigation; both came back with quotes of around $1,200.
That's... a lot. It makes my blood boil to spend that kind of money on something I can't see and that poses a relatively small risk. (At least a new water heater gives me hot water.) This feels like throwing money down the sump pump (which is where they installed the collection part of the system).
On the other hand, I can choose to see it as a form of health insurance. And it goes without saying that treating lung cancer would cost more — an order of magnitude more. (It would also suck, and possibly end up with me being dead.)
So, yeah, we put the system in. Three days later, the View Radon tells me our levels are averaging about 0.3 pCi/L. Has some damage already been done? Perhaps, but going forward, I'll breathe easier.
Our health content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional medical advice. Consult a medical professional on questions about your health.