Odd Question (Hope: real estate, rental, buying a home)

[SCescape]

Radon??
A friend of mine is in the home building /construction trade and used to build homes out west. He told me that I needed to be careful with Radon when choosing a home to rent. Said especially homes with basements. Never heard of Radon before, so tried a quick read on it and have come to an initial conclusion that is a type of gas that can be harmful depending on the levels.

Is this really a problem? Can it be easily fixed and monitored in a home? How would I know a Radin level in a home before I rented it/is this a common question to ask in North Idaho when considering a home for rent?

[pw72]

Doesn't seem to be a major problem in Idaho, but there are pockets...

Radon Levels for Idaho

[mamort]

Radon is pretty common in parts of the west due to the rock in the soil. There's a confirmed link between radon and lung cancer. Our home tested high on two consecutive tests so we just had a mitigation system put in. The dept. of environmental quality recommends the test kits at drhomeair.com. There's even a discount for Idaho residents. You just set them out, undisturbed for 3 days and mail it in for your results. HOWEVER, our mitigation company said that when people test before buying a home, sellers often open all the windows to get false low levels. So...not sure how you'd get an accurate test from a rental before moving in. The only fix is a mitigation (drill below the foundation and a fan pumps air out and up through a ventilation system). They start at about $1500 so a clean test would give you peace of mind but if it's high, good luck getting a landlord to spring for mitigation. Hope that helps. Good luck!

http://www.epa.gov/radon/zonemap.html#mapcolors this map actually puts Idaho in zone 1, the most likely to have levels above 4 (action required)

[jimazee]

Lots of info online about radon. It isn't that complicated a topic if you read up a bit. You probably already found this, but it is a good start Radon Home Page | Indoor Air | US Environmental Protection Agency Most states have info sites too. You can google up some more info to get a broader perspective (or search this site...radon has been discussed many times before). There is even some controversy about the danger etc. but to me no need to question it, since it is easy and inexpensive to mitigate it as a homeowner. Many states have rules about testing as part of real estate sales. but...

It is not easy to determine if a rental property had high radon before you take possession , because most tests take 24 hours or so and should be done under controlled conditions (windows closed etc) so you have no real guarantee of the result.

Maybe you can get the owner to do an inexpensive charcoal test and if they say it is ok, you can repeat it before you take possession and/or after with the understanding that if it fails or is marginal ...define the acceptable number...(thus requiring a pro test and possible mitigation) the owner can either pay to test and if needed mitigate it or you will not be bound to the lease. Add this kind of wording to the rental agreement. (I am not an atty or RE agent...so get another opinion.)