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Exposure to the combination of both radon gas and cigarettes causes a greater risk of lung cancer than exposure to each factor by themselves. Although most radon-related cancer deaths occur in smokers, more than 10 percent of radon related deaths occur in nonsmokers. Most New Jersey home inspectors are going to use a passive radon testing devise. These passive devises consist of charcoal canisters, alpha track detectors, charcoal liquid scintillation devices, and electric ion chamber detectors. These types of tests are exposed to the air in the home for a specified period of time then are packaged up and sent to a certified laboratory for analysis. The EPA recommends correcting the home if radon gas concentrations are over 4 pCi per liter of air or higher.
All of these appliances can create drafts that pull air through the home. Try to not use them during the testing period unless absolutely necessary. Younger women are getting lung cancer more often than younger men. Experts say cigarette smoking is a major reason, but it’s not the only one. You can’t touch it, see it, or smell it but radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer outside of cigarette smoking.
RDA Home Radon Test Kit
Commercial companies that do radon work are not regulated by the state. In some cases, a homeowner can research the type of radon mitigation systems available, purchase the necessary materials, and install an appropriate mitigation system themselves. However, in many cases, professional help will be needed to install a radon mitigation system. Seal openings between occupied areas of your crawl space and basement. This includes openings for plumbing pipes, plumbing fixtures such as bathtubs, electrical wires, and heating and air conditioning ducts and pipes. The container test is the most common do-it-yourself radon test.
The risk of lung cancer with radon increases around 16% for every 100 Bq of long-term inhalation and exposure. This means that if you do have a home that has a high concentration of radon, you may be at risk of future illness without your even knowing it. These systems do not require major changes to the typical home. These systems prevent radon gas from entering the living space.
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And if you do have high radon levels, the average cost to make your home safer is $1,500 according to the National Radon Program Services. The average concentration of radon in outdoor air is 0.4 pCi/L. The EPA recommends that if the radon level detected in a home is between 2 and 4 pCi/L, steps should be taken to reduce it to below 2 pCi/L. The data displayed isnotto be used as a measure of predicting whether an untested home does or does not have radon. The Tennessee Department of Health and the Tennessee Radon Program support the standing of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that every home should be tested in order to know that home's radon level.
Two groups who train radon professionals are theNational Radon Proficiency Program and theNational Radon Safety Board . Using these two external websites, you can locate a trained radon professional to measure or mitigate radon. Every home in Tennessee should be tested especially when you consider the fact that radon related lung cancer kills approximately 21,000 people each year.
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Radon is certainly one of those things you’re exposed to in your home and at the workplace each day and affects your health. The only way to know if there’s an actionable level of radon in your home is to perform a radon test. The test must be performed according to the test manufacturer’s instructions to get an accurate result. When performing a short term test, such as 2-4 days, closed home conditions should begin 12 hours before the testing period begins.
If the follow-up test results also exceed 4 pCi/L, it is recommended that your home should be fixed to reduce the radon levels. Radon is a gaseous radioactive element that causes lung cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the radioactive gas is a leading cause of lung cancer in the country and around the world. That shows how harmful and dangerous radon is to the human life and well-being. Some of the substances are harmless while others are harmful to our bodies.
Have a Certified Contractor Install a Radon Reduction System
Once you have bought the house, long-term radon testing is a must so that you can monitor whether radon is reduced or not. Radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. Outdoors, radon disperses rapidly and, generally, is not a health issue.
You may be encouraged to conduct a radon test if you’re building or buying a home. All homeowners should take this important safety measure, as radon exposure can have deadly consequences. This guide explains the health risks of radon exposure, prevention measures, and how to inspect your home.
Opening and closing doors and windows during the testing period will change the ventilation and temperature of the home which will temporarily change the radon levels as well. In order to obtain accurate test results, radon testing requires closed home conditions during the testing period. This means all windows and doors must remain closed, with the exception of normal entrance and exit of the home. When radon gas enters the body, it exposes the lungs to small amounts of radiation.
It significantly increases the risk of lung cancer in smokers especially. Radin testing can be short-term or long-term, and the better one depends on what you want to achieve. For instance, short-term radon testing is recommended if you only want to know if radon exists in the house you are about to buy. If the results say there are high radon levels, you need to ask the contractor about the best radon reduction technique that can be applied to your home.
In many cases, you won’t know you’re being affected by radon until it is too late and you are showing symptoms of lung cancer because it’s an odorless, tasteless gas. Active subslab suction - suction pipes are inserted through the basement or slab-on-grade floor into the soil beneath. A fan draws gas away from the home and releases it into the outside air, where it quickly becomes diluted and rendered harmless. Two homes next to each other can have different levels of radon - so don’t depend on your neighbor’s test.
However, installing vent pipes under an existing concrete floor could be less effective because the pipes may only capture nearby gas. A false-positive result can lead you to install an unnecessary radon mitigation system. A false-negative (non-actionable) can expose you and your family to dangerous radon levels. In the short-term setting “there are no human indicators of current radon levels we are exposed to, nor signs or symptoms of that exposure from our perceptual systems,” said Snead. Radon is a radioactive gas that forms naturally when uranium, thorium, or radium, which are radioactive metals break down in rocks, soil and groundwater. People can be exposed to radon primarily from breathing radon in air that comes through cracks and gaps in buildings and homes.
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