July 2010 Weddings
slpmay03
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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Radon in houses
In the house we are buying, the radon level came back elevated. The sellers don't really want to mitigate it, they want us to do that and are throwing in a dining room set and the lawn mower. They are moving to a villa and don't need these things. DH's friend says he wouldn't even have a house he was moving into mitigated. He is an engineer and very handy and has owned a home for years, but did not have the radon tested. Anyone have thoughts on this or experience with this? Also, we are looking for a company that would mitigate it and pricing.
Re: Radon in houses
Radon is a super common problem, but not one to brush away as meaningless.
First off, I'm pretty sure it is against the law to sell a house with a known radon problem. Or at least no mortgage company will approve your mortgage if a system has not already been installed. Radon can be a serious thing depending on the levels - it causes all types of cancers. I would not agree to the seller's offer to skip the radon mitigation system and instead give you some furniture and a lawn mower. NOT equal. Depending on the level, it could cost around $1000 or $3000 to install a filtration system. This is THEIR reponsibility, not yours.
We went through the same fights when we bought our house, so I'm speaking for experience. Our system ended up costing like $1500 (to the seller) and everything is great now. I know at least in CT, you cannot sell/buy a house that has a known radon issue w/o a mitigation system.
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I had never even heard of radon in houses until we started seriously looking at houses! The laws regarding radon are varied and you should definitely ask your realtor for what the law is in your county/state.
We payed for our test and then payed for our system ourselves. We wanted them to pay for it, but they countered with either the mitigation system or the home sale contingency. We chose the contingency b/c our condo's buyer's lawyer was certifiably crazy and we didn't know what was going to happen! We got a great deal on the house (we payed close to 2/3 of what the seller bought it for 3 years ago), and we made our offer knowing it would need some work (like new windows). We found at closing that the seller had to bring money to the table- which is probably why he really didn't want to spend another $1500 on a house he got rid of.
We have a ranch, and the basement is the full size of the house. The basement is finished, with a rec room, a bar, an office (but all three are open, no doors), a bathroom and a laundry/utility/storage room. The house was tested 3 years ago when it was previously purchased with a reading of about 2. Our test this time, with the test doen at the same time of year, was 4.5, with some readings/areas close to 6. We had one fan installed, and it was tested a week later. The reading came back at 1.4. The cost of installation was about $1500, and I think each additional fan would have been $3-400 if we had it done that day. We will probably get it tested every couple of years, just to make sure we don't need a second fan.
Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US. Radon gets trapped in the house and is radioactive (meaning it can damage your DNA and cause cancer).
http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html