Do Home Inspectors Check For Radon?

“Do you check for Radon? And what the heck is radon anyway?” After having this question pointed at me, I decided I needed to do an FAQ entry.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas, that is both odorless and tasteless. Radon can emanate from certain radioactive minerals and its intensity varies based on the geology of each area, but radon can adversely affect the indoor air-quality of a home and can even lead to cancer.

Thankfully, as residents of the San Antonio/New Braunfels area, radon isn’t a particularly big concern. As mentioned above, radon levels differ dramatically from place to place, and as you’ll see in the chart below, most people in Texas don’t have to worry too much about it (unless you live in the orange areas, then consider testing).

 

No, Most Home Inspectors in San Antonio Don’t Check For Radon

And any that do will only do so when you explicitly ask them and they charge you for it. Partially because testing for Radon is time consuming. The reasoning being that in order to use a radon test kit, you need to let the test dish the kit comes with sit in an area uncovered for 24 hours. This means that the inspector has to make another trip back to the house to secure the radon kit and send it out to a lab. Its just too much headache for something that is unlikely to be present and most customers don’t want to pay their inspector an extra $200 to do the test.

If you’re interested in doing a radon test of your own home, for whatever reason, do-it-yourself kits are available online and I’ve purchased some from Home Depot as well. You might be able to have your agent ask the listing agent to place the test kit dish in an area and then come back the next day yourself to get the kit and send it off, saving you hundreds of dollars in the process.