Radon Test
Photo: Snow Covered Creek
I watched as the men approached my house, right on time. I said, “You forgot to mention that I didn’t have any electricity in the garage when the plug went out.”
The inspector walked closer and shook my hand. He apologized and said he might have written it more clearly on the inspection report.
I tilted my head to the side and told him that no matter how he wrote it, I wouldn’t have known that when the plug went out, the electricity went out, too.
He nodded.
He and a worker had come to pick up the radon test that had been sitting in my basement for the past three days.
I forgot the test was there this morning; I carried a load of laundry past and stopped cold. It looked like an alien with flashing lights and long, spindly legs.
Then I remembered: it was the test, just an electronic bit on a tripod.
I told him that I wasn’t worried about the radon test: I had one eight years ago when I bought the house and it wasn’t an issue.
The inspector (I wanted to call him Inspector Gadget but refrained) pulled his phone out of his pocket. He said the results were already in.
Isn’t technology crazy? It used to be that they had to send the canister away to find out the radon levels. Now the test sends out cellular data to the inspector’s phone.
He swiped through screens on his phone and then told me that the radon levels were 4.4.
Wait. What?
He said that it was only one quarter point high, but that it was no surprise.
It felt like a surprise to me.
He said that when there is snow covering the ground for a long time, the radon levels go up inside the house.
I told him that I’d had snow cover for about 2 months.
His worker joined us on the front stoop and added that the results weren’t a big deal. He said that when there is thick snow on the ground, I should open the window for at least five minutes each day.
Who knew?
The inspector added that the buyers would do another radon test before they considered remediation. He said that we were entering a warming trend, the snow would melt and the radon levels in my home would most likely go down.
After they left, I called Joyce, my friend/realtor, to fill her in.
Then I went to the basement and opened a window.
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Welcome to my long days. I’m glad you’re here.
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If you want to start at the beginning of my Long Days of Holly Journey, read the posts from the bottom UP. Click HERE.