$179 first area · About an hour for a typical floor area
NORM Screening for Ceramic, Porcelain and Natural Stone Flooring
A floor is the largest single surface of manufactured or quarried material in most homes, and unlike a countertop, people sit, crawl and sleep on it. Ceramic and porcelain glazes, imported natural stone and quartz-composite all carry naturally occurring radioactive material in amounts that vary by source. Most read at background. Screening is the only way to know which floor yours is.
Radiation Alert Ranger — Geiger-Mueller pancake-probe survey meter
Last calibrated on · calibrated weekly
Why floors are worth screening separately from countertops
It comes down to surface area and proximity. A kitchen countertop is perhaps thirty square feet at chest height; a tiled living area is ten times that, and the people closest to it for the longest are infants and toddlers on the floor.
Imported tile also has a longer and less documented supply chain than a slab bought from a local yard. Zircon-bearing glazes and opacifiers in particular are a known NORM contributor in ceramic manufacture, and the batch matters more than the brand.
What gets screened
Ceramic and porcelain tile
Glazed surfaces surveyed across the field of the floor and at a sample of individual tiles, against the room background measured the same day.
Imported natural stone flooring
Granite, marble, travertine and slate floors, including feature walls and stair treads in the same material.
Quartz and engineered composite
Composite floors and large-format panels, where the aggregate source rather than the resin is the thing being measured.
Boxed tile before it is laid
The best time to screen. We read sample pieces from the delivered lot at the property or the yard, before the thinset goes down and the decision becomes expensive.
Pre-install and post-install
Screening delivered tile before installation costs the same as screening an installed floor — $179 for the first area and $59 for each additional room or area on the same visit — but only one of the two leaves you with an easy decision. Builders, remodelers and tile retailers screening regularly should ask about a monitoring contract instead of paying per visit.
What you receive
A written screening report: room background reference, readings across the floor field and at sampled individual pieces, any localized areas reading higher, photographs, and the instrument calibration date. $179 for the first area, $59 for each additional area.
Common questions
How much does tile radiation screening cost?
$179 for the first floor area including the written report, and $59 for each additional room or area screened on the same visit. Travel is included within 25 miles of Tampa.
Is ceramic tile radioactive?
All ceramic and natural stone contains some naturally occurring radioactive material, and most tile reads at or very close to normal background. Glazes using zircon-based opacifiers are the ones that most often read measurably above it, which is why screening is done per lot rather than per material.
Can you screen tile before it is installed?
Yes. We read sample pieces from the delivered lot at your property or at the retailer, which is by far the cheapest point at which to change your mind.
Is this the same as the countertop screening?
The method is the same; the scope is not. Countertop screening covers a kitchen or a slab, while flooring screening covers a whole floor area on a grid. If you want both done, we do them on the same visit and only the first area carries the full price.
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.