Radon Mitigation in Chatfield, MN
Radon testing and mitigation in Chatfield.
Chatfield straddles the line between Fillmore and Olmsted counties, with most of the city in Fillmore. The downtown core is one of the most intact small-town main streets in this part of Minnesota, and the housing around it covers eight decades of construction.
A town that runs across the county line
The downtown blocks of Chatfield have homes that date to the late 1800s and early 1900s, with foundations to match. Stone walls in the oldest houses, block walls in the homes built between the wars, and poured foundations in the mid-century builds further out from the core.
Out in the surrounding townships, the housing is more spread out and the ground varies more from one parcel to the next. Some homes sit on a typical six to eight feet of soil over rock. Others sit much closer to the limestone, which changes how soil gas moves under a slab.
The Chatfield Brass Band has played continuously since 1860, and the Potter Auditorium in town hosts regional theater and music year-round. The town has more cultural infrastructure than its size would suggest, and the housing reflects a community that's been steady for a long time.
Chatfield at a glance
Radon work for a small Fillmore County town with a strong downtown core, a regional arts venue, and housing that runs across most of the twentieth century.
- Housing
- A historic central downtown surrounded by single-family homes from the early 1900s through the 1990s, plus rural acreage homes in the surrounding townships.
- Geology
- Karst country, with shallow limestone bedrock, rock outcrops along the Root River, and sinkholes mapped across the surrounding townships.
- Median radon (Chatfield)
- 5.4 pCi/L , above the EPA action level 30 tests/yr avg, MDH 2014–2023
- Fillmore and Olmsted Counties ≥ 4 pCi/L
- 54.9% of tested homes Ranks #31 of 87 MN counties
- Distance from Rochester
- 20 miles southeast
- Counties
- Fillmore and Olmsted
- Ground beneath
- Shallow karst limestone
What the radon numbers actually say in Chatfield
Across the testing the Minnesota Department of Health, Radon Testing public dataset has on file for Chatfield (2014–2023), the median home reads 5.4 pCi/L. That is above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L. The geometric mean comes in at 4.9 pCi/L. That is a log-scale average that tends to track better when the distribution has a long upper tail, which radon distributions always do.
Zoom out to Fillmore and Olmsted Counties. 54.9% of tested homes in the county come back at or above 4 pCi/L. That ranks Fillmore and Olmsted Counties #31 of 87 Minnesota counties for the share of homes above the action level. A separate 73.7% of tested homes are at or above 2 pCi/L, which is the threshold the Minnesota Department of Health uses when it recommends action.
About 30 Chatfield homes get tested every year on average, drawing from a stock of roughly 2,030 housing units. The number above is not a forecast for your specific home. Radon varies house to house even on the same street. The number is a reasonable starting line for the conversation, not a prediction. See the full data set for the by-county and by-tract picture.
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 towns we cover.
Stewartville
The median construction year for a Stewartville home is 1987, which means the housing here splits roughly in half between older central blocks and newer subdivisions on the edges. The radon question is the same one either way, but the basement it lives in looks very different.
Spring Valley
Spring Valley sits in some of the most studied karst landscape in Minnesota. The town is a few miles from Niagara Cave, and sinkholes are mapped throughout the surrounding townships. For homeowners here, the geology is not abstract.
Preston
Preston is the county seat of Fillmore County and home to the National Trout Center. The town is built into the bluffs along the Root River, and the terrain here is more dramatic than anywhere else in the region. The geology that drives the trout fishing also shapes what's happening under the homes.
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.