Provo has a large share of rented housing: basement apartments, converted single-family homes, duplexes, and units occupied by students on short leases. That turns a…
Provo has a large share of rented housing: basement apartments, converted single-family homes, duplexes, and units occupied by students on short leases. That turns a simple question into a practical one, namely who actually orders the test. A tenant can usually place a test kit in the unit they occupy without anyone's permission, and many do. Mitigation is a different matter, since it involves drilling the slab and running pipe, which is the owner's decision on the owner's property. Utah County rentals are no exception. The person living there can measure, and the person holding title decides what gets installed.
In practice the smoothest path is to talk before testing rather than afterward. A tenant who tells the owner or property manager that they intend to run a test, and who shares the result either way, is far more likely to get a constructive response than one who presents a number out of nowhere. Owners have their own reason to care, since a mitigation system is a permanent improvement to the building rather than a consumable, and it is generally simpler to install between tenancies. None of this requires conflict. It requires knowing whose decision each step is.
If you are renting, ask whether the unit has ever been tested and whether the building has a mitigation system. If it does, ask whether the fan is running and when that was last confirmed, since an indicator on the pipe usually shows it at a glance. If you are buying, a radon test is a common part of a transaction and typically comes with its own timing rules about when the test runs and what conditions must hold during it, so raise it with your agent early rather than discovering the schedule two days before it matters to the deal.
If you own rental property, the questions to answer are straightforward. Has every unit that people sleep in been measured, basement units included, given that testing is generally placed in the lowest lived-in level? Is there documentation you can hand a prospective tenant? If a system was installed by a previous owner, has the building been re-tested since, and does anyone check the fan? Keeping a record of the result and the installation makes the next lease and the next sale easier for everybody involved. Call 801-644-9000 to be connected with contractors serving Provo.
Multi-unit buildings are not simply several houses stacked together. Air moves between units through shared stairwells, utility chases, and floor penetrations, so a basement apartment and the unit above it may not read the same and may not be solved by the same suction point. A contractor evaluates the building as a whole: where the slab is accessible, whether any portion sits over a crawl space, and how the units connect to each other. In a duplex that assessment often decides whether one system can serve both sides or each side needs a system of its own.
The work itself is the same in principle as in any single-family home. A pipe is set through the slab, a fan draws soil gas from underneath, and the gas is discharged above the roofline. What differs is coordination: access to occupied units, where the pipe can run without crossing someone's living space, and when the work can happen around a lease. Once installed, the building is re-tested to confirm the system performs as designed, and that documentation is worth keeping with the property records for whoever owns or rents the place next.
Placing a test kit inside the unit you rent is generally straightforward and does not alter the property. Mitigation is different, because it involves cutting the slab and installing equipment, and that is the owner's call. Telling the owner or manager before you test, and sharing the result afterward, tends to produce a better outcome than presenting a number without warning. Check your lease for anything addressing alterations or inspections.
Requirements vary and change, so verify current obligations with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and with your city rather than relying on a contractor's summary. What holds regardless is that testing is inexpensive relative to the building, results are specific to each unit, and documentation makes leasing and selling simpler. Many owners test because it answers a question tenants increasingly ask, not because a rule compelled them.
Usually yes. Transactions commonly include a radon test, and short-term tests are used precisely because they return a result quickly. They carry their own conditions, since the house is generally kept closed during the test and the detector must not be moved, so schedule it early in the inspection window rather than at the end. Your agent can tell you how it is typically handled locally.
Everything begins with a measurement. A contractor places a short-term device for a quick reading or a long-term device for a closer look at your yearly average, then hands you a number you can make a decision from.
Learn more →When a reading sits at or above the action level the EPA publishes, the standard remedy is sub-slab depressurization: a sealed pipe and a fan that draw soil gas from beneath the slab and vent it above the roofline.
Learn more →A sale runs on its own clock. Radon tests during a transaction carry timing rules and closed-house requirements, and it saves friction to settle early who orders the test and who deals with the result.
Learn more →Fans do not run forever, and the little monitor on the pipe is easy to stop noticing. Service means checking that gauge, confirming the fan still pulls, replacing it at end of life, and re-testing to prove the system still works.
Learn more →During a build, the pipe can be run before the drywall closes the walls. A passive rough-in is far simpler than routing a system through a finished house, and adding a fan later is a small job.
Learn more →Test first, then decide. There is no fee to be matched.
Call 801-644-9000County, foundation type, and whether a deadline is involved is enough to start.