Radon Levels -- Is Your Home Healthy?
Radon Testing is the Only Way to Know if You're Safe in Your Home
Radon, being an odorless, colorless, tasteless and in all words utterly impossible to notice using any of the human senses is toxic and could be in your home.
Before going any further, the radon levels in a home can be tested and mitigated by Evergreen Basement Systems, your local radon specialist in Virginia. Contact them today for the solutions to your home's radon problems.
How to Better Understand Radon Levels
Maybe 10 pCi/L doesn't sound all that bad, so 4.0 pCi/L can't be a problem at all. In order to understand the number, you have to understand the measuring system. Let's compare some figures.
- The radiation in a 4.0 pCi/L level of radon is equal to the radiation from 100 chest x-rays.
- The number of chest x-rays permitted by most hospitals is what makes that number all the more interesting.
- Most hospitals actually only allow people to have four chest x-rays each year. That's .16 pCi/L per x-ray and .64 pCi/L a year. In other words, can you understand why the WHO has their action level at 2.7 pCi/L?
- 1 pCi/L is equal to 2.5 cigarettes a day
How Radon Gas Enters Your Home
As a gas, radon can enter any home through cracks, holes, or any other openings.
In particular, radon enters homes through a process known as the stack effect, which practically sucks the gas right into the home. Since the pressure inside the house is lower than the pressure outside the house, a vacuum is created.
As the warm air rises it makes its way out of the house and is then replaced by unconditioned air from the outside. This air can then quickly begin to buildup especially when the weather gets cooler and windows (escape routes) are closed. In other words, the radon gets trapped.
There could be a lot or a little, which is why every homeowner needs to test for radon and conduct frequent checkups.
The Results Are In -- What Do They Mean?
Radon is measured in picocuries per liter (pCi/L) and the smaller the number the safer you are. However, even what is considered "small amounts" of radon may not be all that safe. Regardless, most homes can be mitigated and the levels can be lessened to some degree.
As a standard, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined 4.0 pCi/L as the "action level" for any indoor environment.
This means that a test reading 4.0 pCi/L and above needs to be mitigated and that the radon levels need to be immediately reduced.
The EPA estimates .4 pCi/L as the national average for the outdoor air, while 1.5 pCi/L is the national average for the indoor air. Although these averages are seemingly quite low, even this 1.5 pCi/L could be problematic. When this amount is trapped within a home its far more concentrated then if it were outside.
The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that radon can be dangerous in any concentration, which is why radon reduction systems are so important. They constantly work to lower the radon levels in your home.
"Most radon-induced lung cancers occur from low and medium dose exposures in people's homes. Radon is the second most important cause of lung cancer after smoking in many countries," said Dr. Maria Neira of the WHO.
Experts at the EPA agree: "We know that radon is a carcinogen. This research confirms that breathing low levels of radon can lead to lung cancer," said Tom Kelly, the director of the EPA's Indoor Environments Division. As long as your home is below 4.0 pCi/L, you should have some peace of mind. However, Evergreen Basement Systems wants to do everything possible to get the radon levels as low as possible.
Call or contact us today to schedule a radon test or receive a radon mitigation system estimate today!
The #1 Cancer Risk at Home
See Dr. Oz discuss the dangers of radon with Rebecca Morley, Executive Director of NCHH.