What Is Your Home's Radon Level Near Harrisburg, Reading, Lancaster?
Test Your Home For Radon To Know If You're Safe From This Carcinogen
Radon is a radioactive element that is odorless, colorless, tasteless, and completely undetectable by normal means. It is often found in concentrated forms in buildings, and could be present at unsafe levels in your home right now.
At M. Webster Construction, Inc., our certified radon mitigation specialists can test your home for radon -- and, if necessary, help you control radon infiltration in your home. If you'd like to learn more about radon in your home, contact us by phone or e-mail today, and we'll put you in touch with our local, certified, radon specialist in Pennsylvania.
How Radon Enters Your Home
In gas form, radon will enter a home from the soil, finding its way through cracks, crevices, dirt floors, around pipe penetrations, through the pores of the concrete itself, and other pathways.
Air is drawn upwards into your home through the "stack effect", which refers to the upward movement of air in a home as it exits through the attic and upper levels.
If there is radon in the soil around your home, it will begin to be concentrated inside your home -- particularly in the winter, when your home is sealed shut. If radon becomes concentrated at unsafe levels, it can become a serious health issue for everyone living there.
Radon Test Results - What Do They Mean?
Radon measurements are reported in picocuries per liter (pCi/L) -- the lower the number, the healthier your home. However, all radon is toxic, and even "small amounts" of radon are not healthy. The good news is that most homes can be mitigated, lowering the levels of radon to some degree.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA has set the standard of 4.0 pCi/L as the "action level", at which mitigation is recommended. In other words, if your test shows a radon level of 4.0 pCi/L or higher, a mitigation system needs to be installed right away to reduce the numbers to a less toxic level.
The EPA has estimated that .4pCi/L is the national average for outdoor air in the United States. The indoor-air average is much higher, at about 1.5 pCi/L. While this number is well below the EPA recommended action level, it is already at a toxicity level that's many times greater than it is outdoors. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that any concentration of radon is unsafe.
As long as your home is below 4.0 pCi/L, you should have some peace of mind. However, M. Webster Construction, Inc. wants to do everything possible to get the radon levels as low as possible. Contact M. Webster Construction, Inc. today for more information.
What Are The Experts Saying About Radon?
"Most radon-induced lung cancers occur from low-and-medium-dose exposures in people's homes. Radon is the second most significant cause of lung cancer after smoking in many countries."
-- Dr. Maria Neira, WHO.
"We know that radon is a carcinogen. This research confirms that breathing low
levels of radon can lead to lung cancer."
-- Tom Kelly, director of the EPA's Indoor Environments Division.
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 a few figures.
- 4.0 pCi/L level of radon has radiation levels equal to the radiation from 100 chest x-rays
- Most hospitals allow only four chest x-rays annually. That's .16 pCi/L per x-ray and .64 pCi/L each year
- 1 pCi/L is the equivalent of 2.5 cigarettes daily
That Said: Can you understand why the WHO has their action level set at 2.7 pCi/L?
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