Ron Stadham of Front Range Radon on detecting, managing and mitigating radon in your home

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Ron Stadham. He is the owner and operator of Front Range Radon and Ron, thanks for being with us.

Ron Stadham: Thank you.

BrokerIPTV: We talked about getting rid of radon, okay? We have done the test, we now know that the levels are higher than what is the acceptable limit.

Ron Stadham: Four picocuries.

BrokerIPTV: Four picocuries.

Ron Stadham: You need to investigate a mitigation system at 4 picocuries or higher.

BrokerIPTV: Or higher. Okay. Let's talk about one of the common misconceptions. Realtor says, "Oh, of course we tested higher. The house has been closed up for a couple of weeks." That's not necessarily a factor.

Ron Stadham: That's not a factor. Once the house has been closed up for 2.6 days, you have reached the threshold; that's the half life of the radon. Therefore, it doesn't make any difference whether it has been closed up for a week, two weeks, six months.

BrokerIPTV: It doesn't build.

Ron Stadham: It doesn't build. Radon does not get worse and worse and worse. It doesn't sit there[Phonetic] and just accumulate and get worse and worse. After you have reached that 2.6 days, then that's it.

BrokerIPTV: So, they've got it. It is higher than acceptable. What is the first thing they should do?

Ron Stadham: The first thing they should do then is contact a qualified mitigation company to come in, look the situation over, look the house over, and decide which is the best method to mitigate the radon on that particular home.

BrokerIPTV: Most people and this typically happens with some people coming from a different state, out of town, haven't been familiar with radon, buying a house in Colorado, they hear, "Oh, radon. My God. We shouldn't buy this house."

Ron Stadham: If you find a home and you fall in love with a home, buy the home. Radon is one of the easiest problems to take care of in a home. It is always mitigatable. There is no such thing as a house you can't fix. So, if you like the house, buy the house

BrokerIPTV: What about most common remedy?

Ron Stadham: The most common remedy for most homes in Colorado is what we call as the sub-slab depressurization system and that is a fan system designed to stop the radon from coming into the house.

BrokerIPTV: How long does the remedy last?

Ron Stadham: A properly installed radon mitigation system should last the life of the house providing the homeowner maintains and if you don't have a home with a lot of cross space, your cost is going to be around 800 to 1000.

BrokerIPTV: So, we have put this in and you say people should recheck how often?

Ron Stadham: About every year to two years.

BrokerIPTV: And what if it is back? Do companies who put in mitigation systems guarantee it for certain amount of years?

Ron Stadham: Almost all of us in this industry do offer a warranty that the work we do will reduce the radon to below 4 picocuries and if does not, we will return and do further work at no further cost.

BrokerIPTV: All right. So, if we have got radon gas, is it... do they make like a home detector for it, like you know a carbon monoxide detector or smoke detector? Can you buy one at Ace and plug it in and know?

Ron Stadham: Yes. You can and they sell for a little less than a 100 dollars, but they are not very accurate.

BrokerIPTV: Okay.

Ron Stadham: And they have to be recalibrated all the time and you have to send them in and have them calibrate it. So, that is why we don't recommend them. We recommend that you do periodic testing on your own or hire a qualified professional home inspector to do testing every year to two years. Most home inspectors will charge you anywhere from a 100 to 150, but they have much more sophisticated equipment.

BrokerIPTV: And you recommend that's the way to go?

Ron Stadham: Yes, that's definitely the way to go.

BrokerIPTV: Ron, great information. Thank you so much.

Posted on October 12, 2008 12:28:46 by Blog Author