Exposure & Avoidance · Testing at home

What each home test actually tells you

The useful question isn’t whether a kit is accurate — it’s whether it measures the thing you’re worried about, in the place that thing shows up. Free path first, then the paid kit, then what a result should and shouldn’t tell you.

Not sure where to start?

Your address decides which test comes first

Radon, water contaminants, and lead paint cluster by geography, water source, and build year.

Read the location guide

Thinking about an at-home heavy metals panel?Read this first — most measure the wrong thing for the question people are asking.Does your address change what’s worth testing?What actually varies by location, what doesn’t, and why testing your own home still comes first.

DustUnder $50

Lead Dust Wipe Test Kit (mail-in, lab-analyzed)

Detects: lead dust (µg/ft²)

Environmental, actionable test with a published EPA clearance standard and a defined remediation response (HEPA vacuum + wet cleaning, or professional abatement). NLLAP-accredited lab analysis of a wipe is EPA/HUD's validated method for dust; unlike instant colorimetric kits, which EPA has only recognized for painted surfaces, not dust.

What the number means: EPA dust-lead clearance/action levels (in force since Jan 2026): floors ≤5 µg/ft², window sills ≤40 µg/ft², window troughs ≤100 µg/ft²; any lab-reportable amount otherwise counts as identifying lead dust present. — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Lead & Heavy Metals: What's Regulated, and Where Exposure Still Comes From

Read the guide

How a test earns a place here

Tier 1Validated and actionable — a recognized method with a published threshold to act on.
Tier 2Defensible with conditions — useful if you know exactly what it does and doesn't detect.
Tier 3Not recommended — never publishes as a recommendation on this site.

The free alternative is always named before any paid option — naming the free path is what makes a paid recommendation credible.

Health screening

Coming soon

Everything above tests a house. The other half of the picture is whether the people in it are current on the screenings their doctor would actually recommend — which is a different question, answered by different tools, and one we’d rather build properly than quickly. It’s coming, because health is most of what safety means.

Not sure where to start? Take the exposure quiz

What each home test actually tells you

Read first

Lead Dust Wipe Test Kit (mail-in, lab-analyzed)

Health screening