Tag: radon

Radon is a type of radioactive gas that is known for causing cancer, and although you cannot see, smell or taste radon, it can in your home. As soon as you begin breathing in air that has radon in it, you are at risk of developing cancer because of it, and so it is literally life threatening and you need to take the matter seriously into consideration.

There are things that you can do in order to ensure that you do not have a problem with radon in your home, and the best thing of all that you can do is use a radon kit. Radon kits are used to determine whether or not there are levels of radon in a home and if so how high these levels actually are. This allows you to be aware of the situation and whether or not you are going to have to take steps to take care of it.

There is no real way of determining when or why you should test for radon and purchasing radon kits and testing is the only real way that you are going to be able to determine what the levels are of radon in your home. It is definitely worth checking to make sure, and even if you find that there is no radon at all in your home, at least you know now and will not have to worry about it.

Once you have used the radon kits in your home, if you do find that there are high levels of the radon gas present, then there are things that you can do in order to reduce the concentrations. You can either attempt to tackle the problem yourself although you will most likely want to seek some sort of DIY radon mitigation help first, and then you also have the option of hiring a contractor to do the work for you, but you should realize first that this will most likely run you anywhere from $700-$2500.

You should also locate an NEHA-certified mitigation contractor either way so that you have a professional who will assess the situation and even if you did tackle the problem on your own, they will be able to double check for you and make sure that the problem has been taken care of.

You can also have a radon mitigation system installed directly in your home rather than using radon kits and the major advantage to this is that you will constantly have lower in-home radon levels, as long as the system is installed correctly and is operating properly.

Radon has been detected in every state across the nation and it causes thousands of deaths every year, and it is also a major cause of lung cancer. You can buy a radon test kit to test your home for this deadly gas and if you do detect a large amount of radon you need to contact a professional to take care of the radon problem before it causes you and your family to become sick. Using an at home radon test kit is much easier than you think it would be and the directions can help if you have any problems, and it will also tell you what an abnormal radon reading would be. Radon is quite common because it comes from the ground and is caused by decomposing uranium which is found in almost all soil, so testing the soil around your house for radon gas is a very important place to use your radon test kit. Another place that you may get a strong radon reading is in the basement since that is underground in most cases.

Another source of radon around the home could be from your water if you use well water, so this is another place you will want to use your radon test kit on to make sure that your water is not contaminated by the deadly radon gas. A single use radon test kit will fit your needs if you only check every so often but if you have had a lot of radon problems in your home or neighborhood then you may want to consider a radon testing kit that monitors for radon 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. This can save you the hassle of going around and testing different areas of your house and the best places to have these permanent radon monitoring kits is in places like your basement and your garage.

Radon is a dangerous radioactive gas that can accumulate in many homes, seeping in through the foundation from the soil and rock below. This gas occurs naturally from the breakdown of uranium in the soil, and is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer. If your home has not had a radon level evaluation, or you have made repairs to your basement or foundation since the last testing was done, your health could be at risk from radon gas exposure. Radon test kits are easily available to evaluate your home, making it simple to ensure that the air you breathe is free of this health hazard.

Homeowners should not assume that their home is radon free because they are healthy and the air in the house smells fresh and clean. Contamination from radon gas is not a problem that is easily noticed. Radon gas has no odor, and is invisible to the naked eye, and health effects from radon exposure can take many years to develop. The only way the average homeowner can be assured that their home is free of hazardous radon gas levels is by using one of the variety of EPA approved radon test kits available on the market.

While there are some areas that seem to carry more risk than others for widespread radon contamination, some homes have been found to have dangerous levels nearly everywhere. In many cases, vastly different levels of radon are measured in homes that are in the same neighborhood, so homeowners should not forgo measuring with radon test kits because the house next door had a negative test result.

Radon test kits are reasonably inexpensive and easy to use, making it quite simple for even the least handy homeowner to get an accurate reading of radon levels inside the home. Insuring that your family’s health and well being is not affected by breathing this hazardous substance is well worth your time and effort.

A naturally occurring gas that often leaches into homes through the foundation, Radon is produced by the breakdown of uranium in the soil. Odorless and colorless, radon is quite dangerous to humans at high concentrations, the second leading cause of lung cancer. Testing for radon in the home is important for the health of your family, and reasonably easy to do with a simple home radon testing kit. Should testing reveal an unacceptable level of radon in your home, a variety of radon reduction techniques can be used to correct the problem.

Radon reduction methods fall into two basic categories, one that prevents the seepage of radon into the home and another that reduces the radon level once the gas has entered. Radon reduction systems that prevent the gas from entering are the type most often recommended by the EPA

One example of a radon reduction technique that prevents radon from leeching into the home is soil suction. This method draws the radon gas from below the home and vents it into the air above the house through a venting pipe. There are four types of soil suction, depending upon the style of foundation that is present in the home. These are subslab suction, drain tile suction, sump hole suction, and block wall suction.

Any of these four types of systems can be either active or passive. Active soil suction uses a fan, connected to the venting pipes, to draw radon from beneath the house and through the system to dissipate safely into the air. Passive soil suction relies upon air currents to draw radon through the system. Active soil suction is the most commonly used of the two, as it is more effective and reliable for radon reduction.

Perhaps the most important factor in effective radon reduction is the choosing of a good contractor to handle the job. Your contractor should be state certified in radon mitigation, ensuring the technical skills and knowledge necessary to install a safe and effective radon reduction system. Be sure to get several estimates for comparison and ask for and check references. Once you have secured your qualified contractor and the work is underway, you can look forward to breathing easier in your home, free of the worry of radon gas contamination.

Radon is everywhere in the world we live in since it comes from naturally decaying uranium that is present in all kinds of dirt and rocks. You should test your house every six months or so to see if you have a problem with radon and if you do have large amount of the radioactive gas in the air you will need to hire a radon removal specialist or you can try to do it yourself with a radon removal kit from your local hardware store. After you perform the radon removal techniques you should retest the radon levels again after a couple days to make sure that all of the dangerous gas was removed. Since there is no way to detect the gas besides using a test it is very important to perform these tests yearly at the very least. This will help to ensure that you and your family are breathing good clean air.

Some of the radon removal devices you could install in your home are really just strong ventilation systems that will help to get the gas out of your home. Having proper air flow and ventilation will help get the gases out and help to keep them out. There are also numerous different kinds of pumps that will help and perform the same job as the airflow systems. Another good idea when you are going through the radon removal process is to seal up all the cracks and crevices in your basement, since this is where the majority of the radon in your home will come from, and the lower the basement is below ground, the higher the chances of radon leaking in. radon is a very radioactive and dangerous gas and prolonged exposure can make anyone really sick, but for small children it could be even worse since their lungs are not nearly as strong as an adults lungs.

Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that is formed by the breakdown of uranium.  This gas is very dangerous and can be found in soil, and can enter schools, homes, and other buildings.  Radon has been found in building all over the United States, so radon mitigation is extremely important in order to be sure it is removed from the environment.  This radioactive gas can cause serious lung damage, and even cancer if breathed in for long periods of time, so radon mitigation is an absolute must.  The most important key to getting rid of radon is first knowing where it exists.  Testing is the key to this process, and you can find radon testing kits at various retailers.  The kits are designed to find out the radon levels in the soil and buildings, and can indicate how severe the radon is at the test area.

Radon enters the home through cracks in the foundation, up through walls, and through porous holes.  Since it comes from the soil and is odorless and colorless, many people are not even aware of its existence.  Millions of homes in America have radon, but real radon mitigation only needs to take place in those homes with highly dangerous levels.  Qualified contractors can help you eliminate the radon from your home.  The problem is fixable, and in most cases, it can be solved in very little time once the radon has been located and identified.  You can find a good, qualified radon mitigation specialist by contacting the EPA for further information.  They maintain a list of the best radon removal specialists nationwide.  State offices also have this list available for you.  Active soil depressurization is the most common way to perform radon mitigation, and is the best way to remove the dangerous gas from the environment.  Simply sealing cracks is not enough.  Diligence is the key to making sure radon is no longer a threat to your home.

There are numerous types of radon mitigation systems to choose from, and with the risk that radon poses to your health, choosing the right system for your home needs is an important task. Therefore, it is well worth investing a bit of time and effort in becoming an informed consumer before making your final selection from the available radon mitigation systems.

There are a variety of factors that will influence your choice in radon mitigation systems. The degree of your radon problem is the primary factor you’ll need to consider when making your choice. Choose a reliable means for testing, and remember that an independent testing service is likely to be the most trustworthy option, as opposed to a test performed by a company that is also trying to sell you one of their radon mitigation systems.

Once you’ve established the extent of your radon situation, you’re ready to start considering the types of radon mitigation systems most suitable for your needs. The type of home that you live in and the space you have available will be a part of the decision making process. There are going to be differences in your options for dealing with radon, depending upon whether you have a basement, a crawlspace, or a home located on a slab of concrete.

There are both interior radon mitigation systems and exterior to choose from. The ventilator on exterior radon mitigation systems is found on the exterior of the house, an attractive option for those with little available space. Those that are located on the interior of the house can be located in the basement or the attic, and there are low noise models available as well.

Effectiveness is, of course, the most important quality of radon mitigation systems, but convenience is nice, too. With time and effort invested in finding the best types of radon mitigation systems for your home, you’ll be able to find a system that can offer both.

Radon is a very dangerous gas that is created naturally in the ground around the world. Radon comes from the decomposition of uranium, and all rocks and dirt have some amount of uranium in them. Radon is also totally without scent, color or taste, so the only way you will know is by using special equipment to test for the presence of it. There are many self install radon alarms on the market so you can monitor your home for the dangerous radioactive gas constantly. When radon is detected you need to call a specialist that deals with radon remediation and they can come and do their own tests and then discuss some radon remediation options with you. If you do your own test for radon and there I only small traces of radon then there are some radon remedial techniques you can try on your own, and many hardware stores will carry these kinds of things.

When there is a large amount of radon detected then the radon remediation techniques and tools that you can do on your own will be useless, and this is when you need to call a specialist that deals with all kinds of radon remediation and then can make your house a safe place again with fresh clean air. They make a special sump pump device that can help keep the radon from entering your home, and this device usually goes in the basement since this is where much of the radon gas will enter your home. When you have to call a specialist they will also give you some devices to monitor the radon in your home if you do not already have something. Radon can be very serious and can cause serious health problems due to prolonged exposure to the radioactive gas, and it is something that exists worldwide.

When testing shows that there is a high amount of radon gas in a home, it will be necessary to have radon abatement procedures performed as soon as possible. Radon is a colorless and odorless gas that seeps into the basement of a home through a foundation that is not very well sealed. The gas is a naturally occurring by-product of radium decay, and because it is radioactive by nature, it has the potential to cause lung cancer in people that are exposed to it.

In the majority of cases, radon abatement will need to be performed by a professional contractor to obtain the desired result of a low radon concentration. Often these services come in the form of either radon mitigation systems, or radon elimination systems. When deciding between the two methods, one must consider the extent of the gas intrusion and the available budget.

The most common radon abatement procedure is called mitigation. Essentially, the radon gas is collected with a series of ducts as it enters the basement, and is diverted to the outside of the home with fans and a vent stack. This method is the more affordable of the two, and it is efficient at lowering the levels of radon gas.

Radon elimination is the other, more expensive, method of radon abatement. The process begins by inspecting the foundation of a home, and removing any crumbling concrete, priming the surface with a special paint, and sealing any joints with a rubber-based compound. Several coats of a rubberized paint are then added as a topcoat, over the foundation walls and the basement floor. This process completely seals the basement, eliminating radon intrusion, and as a bonus, it leaves the basement dry and ready to finish.

Either method of radon abatement will ensure that the occupying family will not suffer the ill effects of radon exposure, and, therefore, the expense is well worth it.

When a homeowner has gone through the proper testing procedures, and found that his or her home has high levels of radon gas, the next step will be to call a professional to install a radon mitigation system. Often, the installation of the unit will start in the basement, where the radon gas typically enters the home. The system will be designed to reduce the overall concentration of radon to an acceptable level for humans to breathe.

There are two basic types of the radon mitigation system. The first uses an array of ducts placed under the floor in the basement, or under a radon shield in the crawlspace. These ducts collect the gas as it is released from the soil beneath the house. A fan is then used to collect the radon from these ducts, and pump it out to a pipe that ends above the roofline of the house. This version of the system is relatively efficient at reducing the amount of radon in a home, though it does not eliminate the problem completely.

A better, and more expensive, version of the radon mitigation system, however, can completely eliminate the harmful gas. The installation of this system begins by inspection all surfaces of the basement walls and floors for damage and leaking joints or cracks. These areas are repaired and sealed with a special compound that is based on liquid rubber. A special paint is then applied, which is also rubber-based and is designed to transform the porous surface of the concrete walls and floor into a large rubber seal. When completed properly, this system will not only eliminate radon, but it will also eliminate water from the basement, making it ready to be finished for extra living space.

Installing either version of the radon mitigation system will make the home much safer to live in, because high concentrations of radon gas have been known to cause lung cancer, due the radioactive nature of the gas.