$449 flat · About 2–3 hours on a typical residential lot
Gamma Radiation Surveys for Homes on Former Phosphate-Mined Land in Florida
Florida has been mining phosphate for more than a century, and a great deal of reclaimed mined land has since been sold, platted and built on. Phosphate ore carries naturally occurring uranium and radium; disturbing, stockpiling and regrading it can leave uneven residual gamma readings across a property long after the mining stopped. We measure what is actually there, at your address, and hand you the map.
Radiation Alert Ranger — Geiger-Mueller pancake-probe survey meter
Last calibrated on · calibrated weekly
Where Florida's phosphate districts actually are
Two districts account for essentially all of Florida's phosphate mining history, and both have residential development on or beside reclaimed land.
Bone Valley — Polk, Hillsborough, Hardee, Manatee and DeSoto counties
The central Florida phosphate heartland, mined since the late 1800s. Lakeland, Mulberry, Bartow, Fort Meade and the surrounding communities sit in and around it, and reclaimed mined tracts here have been developed into subdivisions, mobile-home parks and golf communities.
Hamilton County / White Springs district
North Florida's phosphate district, mined from the 1960s onward, with active and reclaimed operations around White Springs and Jasper in Hamilton County and along its edges into Columbia and Suwannee counties.
What the record actually says — two separate cases, kept separate
These are two distinct pieces of litigation with two distinct sets of figures. They are frequently blurred together in online summaries; they should not be.
Lakeland — Oakbridge and Grasslands (2017 suit, settled 2024)
A 2017 lawsuit against the developer of these two Lakeland communities settled in 2024. The plaintiffs' law firm stated that pre-development testing had shown radiation levels 11 to 21 times higher than the acceptable risk limit.
Mulberry — Anglers Green and Paradise Lakes (2020 class action)
A separate 2020 class-action lawsuit covering these two Mulberry communities cites U.S. Department of Energy findings of gamma radiation 2.5 to 8 times greater than baseline background levels, an amount the suit describes as comparable to more than one chest X-ray per week of exposure.
House Bill 167, effective July 1, 2026 — and why an independent survey still matters
Under House Bill 167, a landowner of a former phosphate mining site can record a public notice and petition the Florida Department of Health for a free gamma survey of the property. Completing that process raises the evidentiary bar for future pollution lawsuits brought against that landowner.
It is a useful law, and it does not do the job a buyer or a resident needs done. The DOH route is petition-based, it takes time, and it produces a general per-acre reading of the parcel. It is not built to map hot spots room by room, in a raised garden bed, along a fence line, or in the corner of a yard where a child plays every afternoon.
A buyer evaluating a home before closing has no standing to petition at all — the property is not theirs yet. If you need a number before you sign, you need your own survey, on your own timeline.
What the survey covers
One flat price for a full property. We take a background reference at the property line, then survey the structure and the land to a fixed pattern, tightening the search anywhere the meter responds.
Room-by-room interior readings
Floors, slabs, and any surface people are in contact with, with extra density in bedrooms, offices and children's rooms.
Yard-zone grid survey
The lot is walked in lanes: garden beds, play areas, fence lines, fill piles, driveways and any regraded ground get their own recorded zones.
Documented hot-spot map
Every location that reads above your own site background is confirmed on a second pass and plotted onto a lot sketch and floor plan.
Written report with calibration data
All readings, the site background, photographs, the survey pattern used, and the instrument's calibration date — the kind of documentation that holds up in a negotiation.
Buying, selling, or already living there
Buyers use this before the inspection period closes, because a documented reading set is leverage and an unanswered question is not. Sellers use it to answer the question in advance instead of losing a contract to a rumour. Residents use it because they want to know what is under the swing set, and no one has ever measured it.
What you receive
A written gamma survey report: site background reference, every recorded reading with its location, a hot-spot map over your lot sketch and floor plan, photographs, the survey pattern used, and the instrument calibration date. Delivered typically within 48 hours.
Common questions
How much does a phosphate-land gamma radiation survey cost in Florida?
$449 flat for a full residential property survey, including the written report and hot-spot map. Travel is included within 25 miles of Tampa, with a flat $99 zone fee out to 100 miles and $199 beyond that anywhere in Florida.
Is my house built on former phosphate-mined land?
Start with our Florida phosphate radiation map, which shows the Bone Valley and Hamilton County district outlines and lets you check an address against them. District outlines are approximate, so a property inside or beside one is a reason to measure, not a conclusion.
Doesn't House Bill 167 give me a free state gamma survey?
It gives landowners of former phosphate mining sites the ability to petition the Florida Department of Health for a free survey from July 1, 2026. That process is petition-based, takes time, and yields a general per-acre reading rather than a room-by-room hot-spot map — and a buyer who has not closed yet cannot petition at all.
How long does the survey take?
About two to three hours on a typical residential lot, longer on acreage or where the meter finds areas that need a tighter search. The written report normally follows within 48 hours.
Can you tell me whether the readings are dangerous?
No, and anyone who tells you otherwise on the strength of a survey meter is overreaching. We report measured values against your own site background and against published reference figures; interpreting personal health risk is a matter for a medical or health-physics professional.
Do you also test for radon?
No. Radon testing is a separate, certified service that we do not perform. Our survey measures surface gamma radiation on the property; if radon is a concern, we recommend engaging a Florida-certified radon measurement professional alongside this survey.
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.