RAINBOW HOME INSPECTIONS

Had a very negative experience with this inspector regarding a radon test. The test itself was conducted during a thunderstorm which can cause spikes in radon levels. The inspector knew this but did not disclose it. Needless to say we failed the test and were told we had "dangerously high radon levels." So for a week we worried over excessive radon levels. We have 5 children and had lived here for 8 years... what had they been exposed to we thought? So we immediately began exploring radon mitigation, not just to sell our home, but to make it safe. Radon mitigation is or can be very expensive. Luckily we contacted Southern Radon Reduction (The top recommended company from Angie's List) and they immediately recommended that we do a 90-120 day test before worrying about reduction systems. They expressed surprise that Rainbow didn't disclose the fallibility of a 3 day test especially during thunderstorms. We followed their recommendations and in addition installed a live radon monitor as well. Our average reading over the past 60 days has been 2.7(well below the recommended level. Had we listened to Rainbow alone we might have spent upwards of $3000 on a very unnecessary mitigation system. As it is I am still upset that for the week we spent worrying about radon levels and our children...when in the end it turned out to be nothing but a thunderstorm and a lack of disclosure from Rainbow. I should note here that Shannon the owner of Rainbow did claim to be something of a Radon expert...which in my mind made this even more avoidable. I worry that real estate agents can use inspectors like Rainbow to help them in price negotiations with sellers. Which would be unfortunate. In discussing our situation with others we quickly found one other family who had almost the identical situation with Rainbow that we did. (poor test results during a storm period) They insisted on a 2nd test from Rainbow during a non-storm period and passed with flying colors. But they had to fight for it...Rainbow did not volunteer it. Bottom line... get informed because the gold under the end of that Rainbow is theirs but it's coming out of your pocket.