Buying or selling a home comes with a long checklist, and somewhere between the appraisal and the inspection report, radon testing in Reno tends to get overlooked. That is a costly gap in this region: the University of Nevada, Reno Extension reports that nearly 26 percent of Nevada homes tested show radon at or above the EPA action level of 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L).
Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas, and the EPA identifies it as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, responsible for an estimated 21,000 deaths each year. No walkthrough or appraisal will catch it, which is exactly how it slips through so many transactions unnoticed.
Here is what buyers and sellers in Reno, Sparks, and Carson City need to know about radon before the deal closes, whichever side of it you are on.
Radon and Your Real Estate Transaction at a Glance
Whether you are buying or selling, these are the essentials:
- Nevada law does not require a radon test to buy or sell a home
- Sellers must disclose known defects, including known radon results, on the Seller’s Real Property Disclosure form
- The EPA recommends radon testing during every home sale, regardless of location
- Buyers typically request the test during the inspection period, and it is a separate service from a standard home inspection
- A high result does not kill a deal; mitigation is effective and negotiable
- Sellers who test early keep control of the timeline instead of surrendering it to escrow
The sections below walk through each side of the transaction.
Does Nevada Require Radon Testing to Buy or Sell a Home?
No. Nevada has no law requiring a radon test as part of a residential sale. What Nevada law does require is disclosure. Under NRS 113.130, a seller must complete the Seller’s Real Property Disclosure form and serve it to the buyer at least 10 days before the property is conveyed, listing every known condition that materially affects the value or use of the home.
The word that matters there is known. Under NRS 113.140, a seller is not required to disclose a defect they are not aware of. A seller who has never tested for radon has nothing to disclose about it, which is why so many Northern Nevada homes change hands with the question never answered. The legal gap between what must be disclosed and what is actually in the house is exactly where radon hides.
That gap cuts both ways. A seller who knowingly conceals a defect faces real consequences, since NRS 113.150 allows a buyer to recover three times the repair cost plus attorney’s fees for a known defect that went undisclosed. A buyer who never asks for a test, meanwhile, has no one to hold accountable later. The law leaves the decision to you, and that is precisely why it belongs on your transaction checklist.
Why Radon Testing in Reno Deserves Extra Attention
The statewide numbers alone justify the test, and the reason for them is under our feet. Radon forms from the natural decay of uranium in soil and rock, and it moves up through the ground into homes through cracks and other openings in the foundation, including the crawl spaces common under homes in this region. Any home can have a radon problem, whether it is new or old, tightly sealed or drafty, with a basement or without one.
Construction still shapes how the gas behaves once it arrives. Older homes around Reno and Sparks often have unsealed crawl spaces that give soil gas an easy path indoors, while newer homes are built tight for energy efficiency, which can hold radon inside once it enters. UNR Extension is direct about the takeaway: you cannot predict which homes will have high radon levels, two identical homes next to each other can test differently, and testing is the only way to know.
How Should Buyers Handle Radon During Escrow?
The inspection period is your window. A standard home inspection does not include radon, so you or your agent need to request it specifically, and it is worth doing even if the seller’s disclosure form shows nothing, since a blank disclosure may simply mean the home was never tested.
The EPA’s Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon lays out three short-term testing options designed for the time pressure of a real estate transaction, and a continuous monitor running for at least 48 hours fits escrow especially well because it records radon levels throughout the test, which both speeds up the answer and reveals any unusual swings or interference along the way. The EPA also recommends placing the device in the lowest level of the home that could be used regularly, meaning the lowest space a buyer might turn into a bedroom, family room, or office, not a utility closet chosen to produce a friendly number.
If the result comes back at or above 4 pCi/L, you have options, and walking away is rarely the necessary one. The standard path is to negotiate with the seller over who pays for the mitigation system, when it gets installed, and confirmation testing afterward to verify the fix worked. Mitigation systems reliably bring even very high readings down.
Should Sellers Test for Radon Before Listing?
In almost every case, yes. The EPA itself recommends testing before putting a home on the market, and the practical reason comes down to leverage. The temptation to skip the test, staying safely unaware of anything that would need disclosing, is understandable and strategically weak. Here is what actually happens: the buyer’s inspector tests during escrow, the reading is elevated, and now you are negotiating a mitigation system on the buyer’s timeline, under contract deadlines, with a buyer whose position just got stronger and whose doubts about what else was not checked are growing.
Testing before you list reverses all of that. A low number becomes an answer delivered before the question is asked, which keeps the inspection period boring, and boring inspection periods close on time. An elevated number gets fixed on your own schedule, with your choice of contractor, so you list a home with the system installed and the retest already passed. A resolved issue reads as diligence. A surprise during escrow reads as risk.
There is a legal benefit to the paper trail as well. NRS 113.150 protects sellers whose disclosure relied in good faith on information from a licensed professional, which is one more reason a professional test report is worth more than a guess in either direction.
If you want the fuller picture before listing, radon testing pairs naturally with comprehensive air quality testing, since mold, moisture, and duct contamination are the other findings that commonly surface during a buyer’s inspection.
What Happens If a Radon Test Comes Back High?
For either party, the process after an elevated result is more routine than most people expect. A confirmation test verifies the first reading. A certified mitigation professional then designs a system for the home, most commonly a sub-slab depressurization setup, a vent pipe and fan that draw soil gas from beneath the home and vent it to the outside air before it can enter the living space. The EPA notes these systems do not require major changes to the home. A post-mitigation test confirms the new level, and that clearance documentation goes into the transaction file.
Bullseye Environmental handles all of this under one roof across the Reno and Sparks area through our radon testing and mitigation service: testing that follows real estate protocols, mitigation that redirects the gas safely outside rather than circulating it, and results the other party can rely on. When a deadline is attached, we treat it that way. Call or text us at (775) 467-2000 to get a test on the calendar in time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does radon testing take during a home sale?
Plan for roughly three days end to end. Closed-house conditions, meaning windows stay shut and exterior doors open only for normal coming and going, must begin at least 12 hours before the monitor starts, the test itself then runs its minimum period, and continuous-monitor results are available the moment it ends. Build those three days into your inspection timeline rather than treating the test as a same-day errand.
Can a buyer trust a radon test the seller provides?
It depends on the details behind the number. Ask who performed the test, when, where in the home the device sat, and whether anything about the home has changed since, such as a remodel, new HVAC equipment, or foundation work, since those changes can shift radon levels. The EPA’s real estate testing guidance includes interference safeguards like tamper seals and hourly monitoring precisely because transaction testing invites pressure on the result. A recent test by an independent professional deserves more weight than an undated report of unknown origin.
Does a radon mitigation system hurt resale value?
In practice it tends to work in the seller’s favor. The system itself is unobtrusive, typically a sealed pipe run with a small vent fan, and its presence tells a future buyer the problem was found and fixed before they ever showed up. The EPA addresses this directly in its buyer and seller guidance: where radon problems have been fixed, home sales have not been blocked, and the added protection can be a selling point. What damages value is not the system; it is an elevated result discovered mid-escrow with no plan attached.
Should I test again after buying the home?
Yes, at least once after you have moved in and are living in the home normally, because the escrow test is a snapshot and radon fluctuates with seasons and daily routines. A longer-term test taken across a heating season gives a more complete picture than the short escrow test could. After that, retest every few years, and any time you finish a basement, alter the foundation, or make major changes to heating and ventilation.
Get the Answer Before It Becomes a Problem
A home purchase is stressful enough without wondering what is rising through the foundation, and a home sale runs smoother when the issue was settled before the listing went live. On both sides of the transaction, radon testing in Reno is one of the simplest forms of certainty available, and one of the few inspection items with a proven, permanent fix.
Bullseye Environmental provides radon testing and mitigation for buyers, sellers, and agents across Reno, Sparks, Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and Carson City, with clear reports and documented results built for real estate timelines.
Call or text us at (775) 467-2000, or reach out online to get your radon test scheduled