In Colorado, the average home has a 52% chance of having radon levels above the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L.  In Vegas, the “house odds” on roulette are also about 52%.  If you were to bet your life savings or say, the contents of your health savings account, on red at the MGM in Vegas, would you call that a safe bet?  Of course not.  Well, the vast majority of Colorado homeowners are making that bet by default.  Take control of your radon risk.  Reach out to CDPHE or your local health department for free radon testing resources.  

Many researchers show that lower income households are hesitant to test for radon—as these residents do not think they can afford a fix if they find a problem.  Luckily, the state of Colorado has your back.  The Low Income Radon Mitigation Assistance program (LIRMA) is designed for homeowners’ primary residence and the owner’s adjusted gross income.  At the time of publication, a three person HH in Adams or Denver county making $92,400 or less would qualify for assistance from the LIRMA program.

What are you waiting for?  Don’t bet against the house.  Get a radon test.

Have you ever wondered why Schedule 40 PVC is the standard for radon system suction and exhaust piping?  I’ll tell you: it’s readily available and very durable even after UV exposure.  This is what’s most important when selecting radon mitigation materials.  Radon gas, a class A carcinogen, must not leak out of your radon system.  Lesser materials like schedule 20, green or even black piping have shown to be less durable during the life of a radon system.  Schedule 20 pipe in particular can shatter like glass in cold climates after very little time in the sun: rendering your radon system useless.

PVC or poly vinyl chloride is quite toxic–especially during manufacturing, which has lead us to look for more sustainable solutions for our industry.

PETG, or Polyethylene terephthalate glycol, is a common manufacturing product in 3D printing.  At PDS, we asked our resident exper—Shane Barr—with Alpha86 why he chose this material.  He replied earnestly, “I suppose the main point being that both materials have their use. The advantage of PETG, in our case, being the adaptability and the allowance of more feasible and safe production. That then allows new and innovative products to come to market with few of the concerns of producing in PVC. There is more ability with PETG to innovate, with no overall drawback, as it can be used much more safely without the need for purpose built ventilation and machinery, thereby expanding the audience and means of production that can utilize the material effectively.  The difference in UV resistance is really only applicable in thin films.”

Shane’s comments echoed what I found in my own research.  PETG is durable and can be manufactured in a home setting.  3D printing–in general–allows for very little production waste.  Design flaws can be fixed immediately without the need to dispose of vast quantities of unusable products.  Misprints or other errors can often be recycled back into new materials or samples.  

PETG is often used in the medical and food industries due to its ease of use and less toxic qualities.  PETG has no BPA or toxic odors or fumes.  This protects the manufacturer during production.

I’d feel remiss if I didn’t mention metal fittings.  Steel and aluminum are infinitely recyclable.  Many radon systems that exhaust to metal downspout for a clean aesthetic look are inadvertently using a less toxic, more sustainable approach to system design as well.  At PDS we prefer steel as it’s more durable, especially to hail damage.  See our many fittings and adapters to downspout here.

Overall, as Shane said, both PETG & PVC have their use and both are suitable for radon mitigation systems.

If you’ve picked up the phone and called PDS, odds are we’ve spoken.  If you’ve asked questions about doing a radon system yourself, you may have found me to be quite crotchety at the onset.  Here’s why: radon systems–in theory–are not extremely difficult to construct.  If you’re able to work basic power tools and swing a hammer, you’ve got the mechanical know-how… but not the technical know-how.  Every home is unique.  Building techniques and codes vary from state to state, often county to county.  I see radon mitigators give up on difficult homes every single day.  The vast majority of these mitigators are not certified or licensed.  In short, they don’t even know as much as my average blog reader, yet somehow deem themselves a professional.

Radon certification and licensing is a difficult process.  It involves over 40 credit hours of in-person or online training from an accredited institution.  An NRPP or NRSB proctored exam must be passed.  This test is often failed the first time due to the breadth of information required to master.  Individuals must then take continuing education (CE) courses and be on the leading edge of technical knowledge.  I know many, many mitigators that carry a costly certification in states where absolutely none is required.

These mitigators care about you.  They care about their trade.  Oftentimes, they care more about fixing your home than making a big profit.  The average cost of radon mitigation in Colorado is very low.  In states without licensing requirements, it’s even lower.  These professionals are incredibly skilled on how to fix your radon problem and they do so with razor thin margins.  I ask that you search them out here or email me for recommendations.  Quotes are often free.  Get one first! 

Best of luck!

Radon system costs can vary tremendously–as you can imagine.  I aim to give you a general idea of what to expect here.  Radon testing per unit (~2,000 sq ft) is often $150-250 nationwide.  A traditional radon system is called a “soil gas depressurization system”.  Fancy words for: take the air from under your home and send it out above the roofline in an energy efficient manner**.  Home construction has a lot to do with how difficult this process may or may not be.  Do you need to seal a 1,000+ square foot crawl space*?  Or do you simply need to tap into an approved radon-ready system?  The cost difference is often 2-5X between those two scenarios.

According to an IEA industry survey in the Dec 2024 edition of Radon Reporter magazine, the majority of radon professionals (21%) charge between $2,001-$2,500 for a “single unit” mitigation (including multifamily).  These self-reported results varied from as low as $1,001-1,500 (19%) to higher than $3,501 (for over 16% of pros).  Overall, pros showed an increase in pricing from 2023-24, most likely due to national inflation.  Anecdotally, I have seen a smaller degree of inflation—since 2020—in our industry than I have elsewhere as a consumer.  

The CDPHE in Colorado estimates most systems run $1,300-3,000.  Colorado is one of the least expensive states for radon mitigation due to high competition and historic “wild west” lack of consumer protection (i.e. low barriers to entry).  Beware low cost mitigators you find on google.  Always check that they are licensed and credentialed.  Always read your contract in full.  Many low cost bidders will leave out crucial system information and put the onus on the homeowner.  I’ve heard horror stories about so-called professionals not wiring the radon fan ($500+ cost left out); charging mileage fees to drive in from out-of-market; using illegal or substandard materials; installing no-warranty systems or systems without a working radon level guarantee.

In my experience, a simple depressurization system can cost you $600-1,200+ in materials alone (see my kits and packages page).  Professional mitigators leverage their professional expertise and material discounts to work at an affordable price and ethical margin.  In fact, I’ve been known to berate them for charging too little for quality work.  If you’d like recommendations on contractors, do not hesitate to call, text, or email me.  Lastly, be sure to maintain your radon system and service it annually (details here).  Don’t be one of the scared homeowners that calls me after realizing their radon system failed several years ago and they’ve been living with high radon–those are my least favorite calls and I get one nearly every day.

*crawlspaces are the most labor intensive radon systems.  Oftentimes full grown adults are working with less than 18” of clearance using caulking guns and pulling around heavy plastic.  For inaccessible crawlspaces, air exchange systems are often needed.  In my market these cost anywhere from $5-10K and need an HVAC licensed installer to ensure you don’t backdraft any home appliances.  More info here.

**Energy efficiency is why you don’t just open up all your windows to get your radon levels down.  An expertly crafted radon system can save you thousands of dollars over the life of your home.  Radon fans move hundreds of CFM (cubic feet of air per minute).  Imagine one hundred “basketballs of air” flying out your roof.  What if all that air wasn’t from the soil but just from the inside your home?  One mitigation company in Colorado Springs did just that for years: not sealing the edges of a crawlspace barrier system and letting homeowners foot the utility bill (PDS no longer recommended them after learning this news and they went out of business).  Inefficient systems like that will raise your energy bill tremendously.  Now what if it was a normal radon system that leaked a handful of CFM.  Not a big deal right? Well, that cost adds up.  One mitigation professional ran the numbers and shared them at an IEA radon meeting.  Sealing less than 50′ of “hairline” concrete cracks saved over $1,200 over the lifespan of an Rn2 radon fan (a medium flow, lower energy fan) using utility data from a typical Midwestern town.  Energy efficient radon system design is a specialty few licensed radon professionals have, but in my opinion, it’s worth paying for.  Be sure to ask them about their energy saving design choices.

Before you read this article, have you watched our video u-tubes on Youtube?  Click here

When we get this call by phone, most DIYers think that they need “higher” pressure.  They say their radon system “doesn’t have enough vacuum”.  I’m not sure where this need for vacuum came from, but in my experience, the opposite is true.  You need airflow.  If you’ve read my articles on fan sizing and fan curves, you know that vacuum and airflow have an inverse relationship.  So the higher your vacuum, the lower your airflow.

That’s not to say higher vacuum is always bad.  Sometimes you need a high suction fan to extend your pressure field (PFE) across the entire home.

As always, the best solution is to have a licensed radon mitigator perform proper fan sizing and PFE testing.  Make sure you ask for this service on your inquiry call, as it’s not a standard service all NRPP pros provide.  It may cost a little more, but in the long run, the energy savings will often outweigh the upfront costs.

So, Brent, what is a good vacuum pressure for my radon system? 

Well, more than zero.  That’s all I can say with certainty.  More than zero and less than the functional maximum listed by the fan manufacturer (see fan curves).

What happens if I have no pressure? 

No pressure could mean a few things: your fan is off or has no power; your system has a substantial leak (loose pipe, ripped barrier, etc.); or lastly your manometer is malfunctioning or disconnected.  These are typically easy fixes that any system inspection will reveal quickly.

What if I have pressure, but my radon levels are still high?

This is very common.  This means that you don’t have PFE, so your system is not covering the entire living space.  On suction pit systems, usually you need a bigger pit (see here) or larger pipe (4” rec.).  On crawl space systems, it needs to have a perf pipe or gas mat loop below the barrier to get PFE.  Is everything sealed?  Are there pony walls or multiple crawls?  Are these connected?  Lastly, and least common, is your fan just too small?  Did the contractor put on a cheap imitation fan or a low volume fan to save money?  Was any fan sizing or PFE testing performed or did they “poke and hope”?

If this article hasn’t given you a direction to work with, then it’s time to call an NRPP licensed pro.  Remember, most states have no licensing or training requirements, so just by making it down to this sentence, you may have more knowledge than the radon “pro” you found online.  Be safe; ask for credentials; and test for radon every five years no matter what!