A typical American household may face a number of hazards, and one of the lesser known (but no less harmful) hazards is radon gas. Local radon testing may be done when a homeowner looks to nearby radon testing companies that can provide testing kits. A local radon mitigation company may then be hired if the rest results are positive, and all this is not something to be neglected. Radon gas is quite dangerous, and these radon testing companies should be contacted at once if a homeowner has reason to suspect unsafe levels of this gas in the home. What might radon testing companies do for their customers, and what exactly are the hazards of this gas?
On Radon Gas
This is a dangerous element to contend with. Radon gas is odorless, tasteless, and invisible, and it tends to seep out of the ground. This may happen right underneath a house, and if the basement has cracks in it, this radon gas may leak right into the air. This heavy element is found naturally, and it is in fact radioactive. Breathing in this gas may cause headaches, nausea, and chest pain at the very least, and inhaling high enough concentrations of it may even cause lung cancer in the victim. Today, around one in 15 American homes is in fact at or above the EPA’s action level, meaning that those homeowners must consult radon testing companies at once to take care of this hazard.
Unfortunately, many Americans die of lung cancer every year due to exposure to this gas. In fact, radon gas ranks second in causes of lung cancer in the United States today, according to the Surgeon General, and thousands of people perish every year from exposure to it. Exposure to this radioactive gas in certain amounts may expose a family to 35 times as much radiation as though they were standing at the fence of a radioactive waste site. If a homeowner notes certain symptoms such as the ones described above in members of the household, it is certainly time to get a radon testing kit. And of course, homeowners who take the initiative may choose to get radon testing done simply to be sure that they are not facing this serious health hazard.
Checking For Radon Gas
To check for dangerous levels of this gas in a home’s air, the homeowner may look up radon testing companies online and order a radon gas testing kit. They may also do this at their local hardware store if it has testing kits available for purchase. Such tests may be either the short-term or long-term model, depending on how large a time frame the homeowner believes that they have. In some cases, the homeowner may purchase a short-term gas testing kit, which will collect air samples in the home for 90 days and then transmit this data to the correct professionals. A long-term testing kit, meanwhile, will have collected air samples for more than 90 days by the time it is finished testing the air. If possible, a long-term kit should be purchased since its results will probably be more accurate.
If the results of the testing kit show a dangerous level of radon gas in the home, steps may be taken. The homeowners may call foundation repair crews to seal any and all cracks and holes in the concrete that may be admitting this dangerous gas, and a radon mitigation company may also be called in. These professionals may open all the doors and windows to the home and use special hardware to blow all the air out of the home and completely refresh and recycle it. This will quickly lower the concentration of radon gas in the home as the radon-heavy air is removed, and this can make the home safe once the radon gas concentration goes below the action level set by the EPA. Not all American homes have dangerous amounts of radon gas leaking into them, but some do, and it may be difficult to diagnose this gas’s dangerous presence without a testing kit. Savvy homeowners may take the step to buy such a kit and set it up for testing.