Do you own a home and have heard about radon, but really don't know much about it? Your home inspector may have recommended you get a radon test done at some point, but you've never actually done it. If you're clueless about radon then you'll definitely want to know the following things about it.
What Is Radon?
Radon is a type of radioactive gas that comes from the soil beneath your home. The gas is released due to the uranium that decays in the soil, water, and rock found around your home. That gas has the ability to seep into your home and reach a dangerous level that can be hazardous to your health, with the potential to cause lung cancer.
How Can You Tell if Radon Is In Your Home?
Since radon is a colorless and odorless gas, the only way to know if it is in your home is to test for it. There are DIY tests that you can buy at your local home improvement store and send off to a lab to be analyzed, which can take a week or two in order to get the results back. You can also contact a professional in your area that does radon testing and can give you results back much faster.
What Do You Do If Your Home Has High Radon Gas Levels?
If a test comes back and indicates that you have high levels of radon gas in your home, you'll need to take steps to get rid of it. There are a few different techniques that can be used to accomplish this goal, which all depend on how high your radon gas levels are and what your budget is.
What Are Some Radon Gas Mitigation Techniques?
You can start with a simple solution by sealing the various cracks and openings in your foundation that can cause radon gas to get into your home. You can also purchase a sump pump cover to prevent radon gas from seeping in through the sump. A more advanced technique is called crawl space encapsulation, which seals the crawl space and vents the radon gas out of the home. You can also bring fresh air into a home while venting out existing air along with any radon gas in it.
Not sure what to do about radon gas in your home? Reach out to a professional in your area for more information about radon level tests.
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