Radon Mitigation in Kutzky Park, Rochester MN
Radon work in Kutzky Park, done by people who know the basements.
A lot of Kutzky Park basements have been finished and refinished in pieces by every owner who lived there. By the time the current homeowner bought the place, the basement had a few decades of decisions stacked into it that nobody really wrote down.
The creek matters more than people think
Cascade Creek runs through Kutzky Park West and cuts the neighborhood roughly in half. Homes on the lower streets, closer to the creek, sit on ground that drains slower and stays damper through spring than the rest of the west side.
The architecture in Kutzky Park is mixed by design rather than by accident. Craftsman bungalows next to four-squares next to Tudor-inspired cottages, most of them on narrow lots. That same variety shows up underneath the houses. A 1925 bungalow on Sixth Street might share a property line with a 1932 four-square, and their basements have almost nothing in common.
Most of the homeowners we talk to in Kutzky Park have lived in the house long enough to remember when the previous owner finished the rec room, or added a sump, or sealed up the coal chute with the wrong kind of patch. That history is usually part of what we're asking about.
Kutzky Park at a glance
West of downtown Rochester, along Cascade Creek.
- Era
- Most homes built in the 1920s and 1930s, with later infill
- Foundations
- Block and stone walls, gaps along the rim joist that nobody has touched in decades, abandoned coal chutes, sealed-up chimney clean-outs, and slab patches from wherever a sump or floor drain got added later.
- Built mostly
- Between 1920 and 1940
- Foundation pattern
- Block, stone, owner-added patches
- Runs through the neighborhood
- Cascade Creek
- Rochester median radon
- 3.2 pCi/L Citywide. Tracts range 2.2–5.3 pCi/L. By-tract view.
- Olmsted Co. ≥ 4 pCi/L
- 42.3% of tested homes MDH, 2014–2023
Three steps. On your timeline.
Measure your radon level.
We start with a measurement of what is actually in the air your family breathes. You see the result we see, and we walk through what it means in plain language.
You see the picture first.
Once you have the result, we talk through what your home is dealing with. No scripts, no pressure. You decide what to do next on your own timeline.
A conversation about your home.
If you want to take action, we look at the basement together and talk through what a plan for your foundation could look like. Every home is its own conversation.
Other Rochester neighborhoods we cover.
Folwell
The first question a Folwell homeowner usually has is some version of, "does any of this involve tearing up my finished basement?" It's a fair thing to ask, and it's usually the place where the conversation starts.
Historic Southwest
A lot of Historic Southwest homes have been remodeled four or five times since they were built. Each remodel left its mark on the basement, and the radon story for any individual house has to start with what those layers look like.
Slatterly Park
Most of the Slatterly Park calls we get come from a buyer in the middle of a home inspection with two weeks to closing and a radon number that came back higher than expected. We know the pace those conversations move at.
Find out your radon levels with a free radon test.
About 42% of tested Olmsted County homes come back above the EPA action level. The surrounding counties are higher. The first step is knowing where yours sits, and that is the part we do for free.