Radon was a big deal 30 years ago. Is it still something New England homeowners need to test for and fix?

Yes. Radon never went away. It is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas that seeps up from the soil into homes, and the EPA still puts the action level at 4.0 pCi/L. New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts sit on granite, and granite bedrock is one of the bigger natural radon sources in the country. The risk is the same as it was 30 years ago. People just stopped talking about it.

Here is what changed. The big public push happened in the 1980s and 1990s. After that the headlines faded. The gas did not. Radon is still the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, per the EPA. So the quiet does not mean the risk dropped. It means fewer reminders to test.

Why New England in particular

Our ground works against us a little. The whole region is full of granite, and granite gives off radon as it breaks down underground. That gas moves through cracks in your slab, the floor wall joint, sump pits, and dirt-floor crawl spaces. It collects in the lowest part of the house, which is usually the basement.

That is also where the soil situation matters. Around most foundations the dirt is disturbed backfill, the looser fill that got put back when the house was built. It drains slow and lets gas migrate up toward the foundation. Same reason water pools down there. The path for water is often the path for radon.

How you find out

You test. A radon test is cheap and it is the only way to know, because you cannot see or smell the gas. The test fee is $50, credited toward the job if you move ahead. You can also buy a do-it-yourself kit, and NH DHHS and the EPA both publish guidance on testing. We are happy to run it for you, but you do not need us just to test. If your number comes back under 2.0, you are in good shape and you do not need a mitigation system. Test, then decide.

Read the result against the EPA scale. At 4.0 pCi/L or higher, the EPA says fix it. Between 2.0 and 4.0, the EPA says consider fixing it. Under 2.0, you are fine to leave it alone for now and retest down the road.

What a fix actually is

If your number is high, the answer is a radon mitigation system. For a normal poured or block basement, that is an active sub-slab system. We seal the obvious entry points, run a pipe down through the slab into the soil, and put a quiet fan on it that pulls the gas out from under the floor and vents it above the roofline. The air pressure under your slab gets flipped so the gas goes up the pipe instead of into your living space.

For a dirt-floor or fieldstone crawl space, the approach is sub-membrane depressurization. We lay a sealed membrane over the dirt and pull the gas out from under it, same idea, different surface. We install both. Our radon guy is Branden. The crew calls him “B-Radon,” which tells you how much of this he does.

A mitigation system runs $900 to $6,000, and most homes land around $1,950 to $2,250. The system carries a 10-year warranty. One thing to set straight. The warranty covers the system, not a specific radon number. We do not guarantee a level unless we put it in writing. The follow-up retest after the fan has run a while is on you, the homeowner. That is standard practice and it keeps the result clean.

When you actually need one

You do not need a mitigation system because your neighbor got one. You need one because your test came back high. So test first. If the number is low, keep your money. If it is high, fix it, because lung cancer risk is not something to sit on. We would rather tell you to wait than sell you a fan you do not need.

If you are already opening up the basement for water or a finished room, that is a smart time to handle radon too, since the crew is in there anyway. Waterproofing is our Forever Dry System, crawl work is crawlspace encapsulation, and a finished basement is basement finishing. Radon stands alone on its own mitigation system, and everything we install is backed by the 603 guarantee.

External reading worth your time: EPA radon (the EPA action level page), NH DHHS radon, and SOS Radon for what to do when a result comes back over 4.0.

Ready to find out your number?

Call us at 603-610-1770 or book your free inspection and we will test, read the result with you, and only put in a system if your number says you need one.

Related questions

What is a safe radon level? The EPA action level is 4.0 pCi/L. At or above that, the EPA says fix it. Between 2.0 and 4.0, consider it. Under 2.0 you are fine for now. There is no level that is officially “zero risk,” so lower is always better.

How much does radon mitigation cost? A radon mitigation system runs $900 to $6,000, and most homes land around $1,950 to $2,250, and a radon test fee is $50, credited toward the job if you move ahead. The exact number depends on your foundation type, slab or dirt-floor crawl, and where the pipe and fan have to run.

Does radon mitigation come with a guarantee? The system carries a 10-year warranty. That covers the equipment and the work. We do not guarantee a specific radon level unless it is written into your agreement, and you handle the follow-up retest yourself after the fan has been running.

Can you do radon in a fieldstone or dirt-floor crawl space? Yes. For a dirt or fieldstone crawl we use sub-membrane depressurization, a sealed membrane over the soil with the gas pulled out from underneath. Branden handles those.