Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas produced as uranium in soil and rock breaks down. It has no colour, no smell and no taste, it seeps up through the ground into buildings, and Colorado sits in a part of the country with elevated radon potential.
It is also one of the easiest household risks to measure and one of the most routine to fix. The gap between those two facts and how few homeowners act on them is the reason this article exists.
Why it matters
Radon accumulates indoors, and prolonged exposure at elevated levels is associated with increased lung cancer risk — the reason it is treated as a health issue rather than a nuisance. The risk compounds substantially for smokers.
The relevant point for a homeowner is simpler: you cannot know your level without testing, and neighbouring houses can differ significantly. Your neighbour's result tells you very little about yours.
How testing works
Short-term tests run a few days and are the usual starting point. Kits are inexpensive and widely available.
Long-term tests run ninety days or more and give a better picture of your actual average exposure, since radon levels fluctuate with weather, season and how the house is being ventilated.
Testing conditions matter. Tests are run under closed-house conditions, in the lowest lived-in level of the home, away from drafts and exterior doors. Winter often produces higher readings, because the house is sealed and the stack effect is pulling harder from below.
The EPA action level is 4.0 picocuries per litre, with a recommendation to consider action between 2 and 4. Those thresholds are the standard reference point for mitigation decisions.
How mitigation works
The standard fix is sub-slab depressurisation, and it is less invasive than most people expect.
A suction point is cut through the basement slab, piping runs from there up and out of the building, and an inline fan runs continuously, drawing soil gas from beneath the slab and venting it above the roofline. Rather than blocking radon, the system gives it an easier path than coming through your floor.
Typical work also includes sealing slab cracks, the sump lid and other openings so the system pulls efficiently.
A properly installed system runs quietly, uses a small amount of electricity, and should be paired with a manometer — the simple U-shaped gauge on the pipe that shows at a glance whether the fan is still doing its job.
New construction and this region
Many newer Colorado Springs homes are built with passive radon-resistant features roughed in — a gas-permeable layer under the slab, sheeting, sealed joints and a vent pipe already run up through the building. That rough-in makes activation straightforward, because it often means adding a fan rather than starting from nothing.
The catch is that plenty of owners of these homes assume the rough-in means they are protected. A passive system may reduce levels; it does not guarantee they are below the action level. The only way to know is to test.
Practical steps
- Test. Short-term kit first, in the lowest lived-in level, under closed-house conditions.
- If the result is at or above 4.0 pCi/L, either confirm with a second test or go straight to mitigation.
- Use a certified mitigator. Colorado radon professionals hold national certifications; ask for the credential.
- Retest after mitigation to confirm the system is doing what it should.
- Retest every couple of years, and after any major renovation or foundation work, since changes to the building envelope change the airflow.
If you are buying or selling
Radon testing is a common part of the inspection process here, and mitigation frequently becomes a negotiating point. If you are selling, testing ahead of listing puts you in a better position than discovering the number during someone else's inspection.
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