The purchase of a home is a large investment, and you should take the steps necessary to make sure you complete a successful purchase. As part of your due diligence, you can complete a home inspection, along with radon and other tests. Here are some considerations to help you out during a home purchase process in hiring the right inspections.
Walk Through the Home
Prior to buying a home, you should walk through the home at least a couple of times to get a good idea of the home and its condition and to check for any potential problems or damage. This can include broken fixtures inside the home, the condition of drywall and flooring, and the appearance of the roof and siding or exterior material on the home. A visual inspection by you and your real estate agent can help you find some obvious signs of neglect or damage in a home to give you an idea of its condition. Then, you can arrange for further professional inspections for a deeper investigation.
Arrange For Radon Testing
Radon can be present in any area of the country and in many climates and soil. Because it exists naturally in the soil and rock below a home, it will seep up and into a home without any scent or visual indication. The current homeowner may not even know about the presence of radon if it exists, and it could be building up to dangerous levels inside the home. For this reason, it is important that you have residential radon testing done inside the home to evaluate any presence or its level inside the home.
Radon usually builds up in the basement of a home first, as it seeps from the soil and through tiny cracks in the foundation. Here it can collect into dangerous levels without good ventilation. You can arrange for a short-term test to measure radon in the home with a digital test meter, which you can place in the home's basement. A short-term test can be completed in a couple of days, or you can opt for a long-term test that tests the air over the course of several weeks or months.
Make sure the test is completed when the doors and windows have been closed, as this will dissipate any radon levels and cause an incomplete test. You can open and close doors as needed for entry and exit, but do not air out the home with its windows open.