$179 first kitchen or slab · About 45–60 minutes for a typical kitchen
Granite Countertop and Natural Stone NORM Testing
Granite is a natural igneous rock, and natural rock contains naturally occurring radioactive material — uranium, thorium and their decay products — in amounts that vary from quarry to quarry and slab to slab. Most stone reads at or near background. Some does not. Screening is quick, and it is the only way to know which one is in your kitchen.
Radiation Alert Ranger — Geiger-Mueller pancake-probe survey meter
Last calibrated on · calibrated weekly
Why the kitchen is the priority screening area
It is not that kitchens are special geologically. It is that a countertop is a large slab of the same stone, at chest height, in the room where people stand for hours, prepare food, and where children do homework at the island.
Surface area and time spent nearby are the two things that turn a small per-unit difference into something worth measuring. That is why we screen kitchens first, then bathroom vanities, fireplace surrounds and stone feature walls.
The radon connection, stated accurately
Uranium in rock decays through radium to radon, a gas. Where stone contains measurably elevated NORM, it can contribute to indoor radon — but the dominant radon source in nearly every Florida home is the soil and rock beneath the slab, not the countertop.
A gamma screening tells you what the stone itself emits. Radon in indoor air is a different measurement and a certified service we do not perform — if radon is a concern, we recommend engaging a Florida-certified radon measurement professional.
Who this is for
Homeowners, before or after install
Screen a slab at the yard before it is cut, or screen the countertop that has been in your kitchen for fifteen years. Either way you get a written reading instead of a search-engine rumour.
Builders and remodelers
A screened slab is a specification you can hand a client. Several builders use this as a standard line item on high-end kitchens rather than fielding the question later.
Stone yards and fabricators, statewide
A partnership angle worth real money: screening you can offer your own customers as a value-add, on inventory or per-slab, anywhere in Florida. Yards screening regularly should ask about a monthly monitoring contract rather than paying per visit.
Tile and stone flooring
Floors are a larger surface area than any countertop and are covered separately — see our tile and flooring NORM screening for ceramic, porcelain, imported stone and quartz-composite floors.
What you receive
A written screening report: readings across the slab surface and edges against the room background, any localized areas that read higher, photographs, and the instrument calibration date. $179 covers the first kitchen or slab; each additional area is $59.
Common questions
How much does granite countertop radiation testing cost?
$179 for the first kitchen or slab, including the written report, and $59 for each additional area such as a bathroom vanity or fireplace surround. Travel is included within 25 miles of Tampa.
Is granite radioactive?
All natural stone contains some naturally occurring radioactive material, and most granite reads at or very close to normal background. The variation between quarries and individual slabs is the reason screening exists — the answer is per-slab, not per-material.
Should I test the countertop or test for radon?
They answer different questions: the meter measures what the stone emits at the surface, while a radon test measures what accumulates in your indoor air from all sources combined. Soil beneath the home is the dominant radon source in Florida. Radon testing is a certified service we do not perform — for that, engage a Florida-certified radon measurement professional.
Can you screen a slab before it is installed?
Yes, and that is the ideal time. We screen at the stone yard or fabricator before the cut, so the decision costs you nothing but a phone call.
How it works
Three steps, no surprises
Book a consultation
Tell us the property, the item, or the facility and what prompted the call. We confirm scope, price and the travel zone in writing before anything is scheduled.
On-site survey with our calibrated instrument
We survey with the Radiation Alert Ranger, taking a local background reference first, then working the area to a fixed pattern so nothing is sampled by chance.
Receive your written report
A written report with the hot-spot map, every recorded reading against your own site background, photographs, and the instrument calibration date. Typically within 48 hours.
Methodology
How we survey — the actual method
Background reference first
Before anything else we record ambient background at the property line. Every later reading is reported against that number, because a reading only means something relative to local background.
Fixed-pattern coverage, not spot checks
Interior areas are walked room by room at a steady pace with the probe held at a consistent height. Yards and lots are walked on a grid — roughly 15-foot lanes on a typical residential lot, tightened where the meter responds.
Hot-spot confirmation
Anywhere the count rate rises above the site background, we stop, tighten the search, and take timed readings at the peak. A location is only recorded as a hot spot after it repeats on a second pass.
Priority zones get extra time
Bedrooms, children's play areas, garden beds, home offices and any spot where someone spends hours at a time are surveyed more densely than pass-through space.
Everything is documented
Each recorded reading is logged with its location, the value, the time, and the instrument calibration date, then plotted onto a floor plan and lot sketch in the report.
Who performs the survey and how we work
Surveys are performed by the owner-operator of EMF Testing Services, trained in survey-meter operation and in the survey procedure described on this page, working to the same written methodology on every job.
We hold no regulatory role and claim no agency standing. What we provide is a documented instrument reading set: where the meter was placed, what it read, when the instrument was last calibrated, and how those readings compare to the background level measured at your own property on the same day.
Our radiation surveys are independent, informational measurements performed for personal due diligence. They are not represented as satisfying, replacing or substituting for any specific government agency's statutory testing, survey or disclosure requirement, and they are not a medical or health assessment.
Find out what's actually there.
One all-inclusive price: $399 for a complete EMF inspection of any size home. That covers every test, every room, and the written report — no square-footage tiers. Flat travel zones apply outside Hillsborough County; we serve the entire state of Florida.