- If the basement is occupied for more than four hours each day (bedroom, family room or office) this is where the test should be conducted. If the building does not have a basement or if it is rarely occupied, the radon test should be conducted on the ground floor.
- The ideal time for a short or long term radon test is from mid-September to mid-May, when windows are closed.
- However, global warming and the increasingly frequent use of air conditioning with windows closed should be taken into account. A short-term test may be valid also in summer.
- Ideally, windows should be closed 12 hours before deployment. The dosimeter should be installed on a desk, table or shelf approximately 40 cm from an interior wall or 50 cm from an exterior wall, between 0.8 and 2 m from the floor, but at least 50 cm from the ceiling and 20 cm from any other objects to ensure normal air circulation around the detector.
- Continuous winds in excess of 30 mph may invalidate the results of a short-term test.
- With a short-term alpha trace detector and an electret ionization chamber detector, it is possible to do a deployment before the inspection by involving the seller. The advantage of the electret ionization chamber detector is that it is possible to recover it during the inspection and obtain a result from the laboratory the next day. Radon measurement results that can be integrated into your pre-purchase or pre-sale inspection report.