Most homeowners don’t think about radon until someone tells them about it. Because it’s “National Radon Action and Lung Cancer Awareness Month“, we’re taking this opportunity to tell our customers about it!
Radon is a gas that you can’t see, hear, or smell. Since breathing radon can have detrimental health effects, including lung cancer, it’s good to understand what it is and how to tell if you have it in your home.
Continue reading to learn more, or simply give our Ottawa radon service experts a call now!
Radon is released when uranium breaks down. While you probably don’t have uranium just sitting around, there may be some in the soil around your home. It occurs naturally, usually in pockets, and decays over time.
If your home happens to be on top of or next to one of these pockets of radon, the gas can enter your house. It usually does this through cracks in your foundation or the concrete walls of your home that are underground. It can also enter through pipe joints or drains in your basement.
Radon exposure outside is usually not a problem because the gas gets diluted by the rest of the gases in the air. If it’s in your basement and can’t escape, though, it can build up to dangerous levels.
Radon levels can vary from house to house, even within a neighbourhood or a city block! But radon has been found in Ottawa homes, so that’s why everyone needs to do their own individual test for radon.
At Out of This World, we offer two options when it comes to radon testing in Ottawa. The first is a 7 day test. There is a small device that you place in the lowest level of your home for 7 days. It detects your general radon level, though the results are not as accurate as they are if you do one of the longer tests, described below.
The second test is a 91-day test. It has a plastic lens that detects the impacts of radon’s alpha particles when they hit it. We send the test to the lab, where it determines the concentration of radon in your home based on what they see on the lens.
If you’d like to learn more, be sure to check out our Radon Testing FAQ!
If you find that you have unacceptable levels of radon in your home, we will design a radon mitigation system that problem. Our systems lower radon levels fast, so you don’t risk repeated exposure or exposure over time. We will make sure your system suits your home, then install it ASAP.
Reach out to us at Out of This World now to test for radon and, if necessary, mitigate!
Check out our blog posts below for some helpful info, expert tips and more!
