what can you do to reduce radon levels in your home
What Is Radon?
Radon is a radioactive gas that occurs naturally when the uranium in soil and rock breaks down. It is colorless, odorless and tasteless. When radon is released from the ground into the outdoor air, it is diluted and is not a business organization. However, it can accumulate to high levels within your home. High radon levels can be a risk to the health of y'all and your family. The fact is, all homes will contain some amount of radon. The question is: how much, and how tin can you mitigate radon in your abode?
As the leading cause of lung cancer (just behind smoking) for Canadians, long-term exposure to radon is something you lot should have seriously.
I don't say whatsoever of this to scare you, just to prepare you for taking action against this potentially mortiferous gas. Don't look – test your dwelling for radon equally soon as possible. There are short-term and long-term tests available online. Or yous tin bring in a radon professional who will do the testing for you.
Hither is a guide to remove radon from your home:
24-hour interval One: Start Your Radon Examination
While at that place'due south no bad time to test your home for radon , the winter months, when we tend to keep our homes more tightly sealed is a prime opportunity.
Y'all'll want to put your testing unit about 5 feet off the floor – and continue it away from any drafty areas like windows, doors, and fifty-fifty drains. You'll probably desire to put it on the lowest level of the dwelling house, so if you have a basement, that makes a great spot. If not, the main flooring will do.
DID YOU KNOW: Radon tin can also seep into your home through your well water . So if you lot live in a dwelling that uses a well, make sure to have your h2o tested as well as your air.
Visit the Testing Shop to find the right radon test for your needs.
If yous're testing your well water for a radon problem, it's important that you ship your sample to the lab quickly. It needs to be processed within two days of drove – and then for safety, take your sample on a Monday, and overnight courier it to the lab so it'due south there by Tuesday. The radon system that reduces radon levels in well water is chosen Airwell .
Radon Airwell to mitigate radon in ground water
How Do I Exam For Radon?
There are a few ways to exam:
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Short-term DIY Radon Exam Kits
A short-term test is at to the lowest degree 48 hours. It is important to note that levels can fluctuate with different factors and seasons, so a long-term examination is ideal to determine the need for mitigation. Health Canada recommends that if you conduct a short-term radon test you follow upward with a long-term test to know if you lot demand a radon mitigation system. Make sure your tester has been approved past C-NRPP.
A short-term examination is besides used if y'all accept a radon mitigation system installed. A certified mitigator does a short-term radon exam to ensure the system installed is effectively removing radon in your home.
If you are purchasing a firm and need to make a quick decision, a short-term test could be conducted. This can give you an idea of whether you demand to budget to remove radon or not.
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Long-Term DIY Radon Test Kits
Long term testsmeasure out radon levels over a period of more ninety days. Because radon is a gas, information technology is constantly moving, throughout the yr pooling in different spots in your house and in greater or smaller quantities. This is why a long-term test is important.
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Intelligent Radon Detector
Recently I came beyond a palm-sized radon detector called EcoQube. I think this is a fantastic device. You just plug it into your habitation and the results show upwardly on your phone in less than an hour. The best role nearly this is that it is constantly monitoring your radon levels.
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Hire a qualified home inspector who can examination for radon
C-NRPP Certified professionals are certified to work in every province and territory in Canada. You lot tin can find a pro online. My Mike Holmes Inspections team also conducts radon testing.
Is A Radon Exam Worth It?
Radon is the 2nd leading crusade of lung cancer (after smoking). According to the EPA (Usa Environmental Protection Bureau), radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year in the U.s.a.. The merely manner to know if your house has radon is to test for it.
Hither is more data on radon testing options.
Can I Test For Radon Myself?
Yes, you tin can practise a radon test yourself. Y'all tin purchase a test kit online. I personally use the Testing Store at Radon Ecology. There are short-term and long-term tests available.
You can also hire a dwelling inspector to test for radon levels in your home. But make sure they are certified by the Canadian National Radon Proficiency Program (C-NRPP). You can find these pros on the C-NRPP website. My Mike Holmes Inspectors can perform radon testing, including testing for other contaminants similar mold and VOCs.
FAQs Almost Radon
Day 10: Send Out Your Radon Test for Results
You'll get a better idea of the radon levels in your abode past letting the test gather samples over a longer menstruation than a shorter period. For best results, you lot'll want at least a ninety-24-hour interval radon test kit, but 1 affair to consider is running a short-term and long-term examination concurrently.
Using a rapid test kit, you can go your results later on a minimum of 10 days.
This will give y'all an idea if more follow-upward testing is needed, or that you lot may need to begin your mitigation efforts.
Day xxx: Start Calling Your Pros to Reduce Radon
Did your first round of testing come up back with some surprising or apropos results? Wellness Canada suggests that you take activity against radon levels that exceed 200 Bq/m3. That said, fifty-fifty that number is a little loftier for me. I'd certainly take activity in reducing radon levels in my abode at a much lower threshold.
I advise you call in your furnace adept to do a check of your system to ensure it's in expert shape. If your domicile has a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) already, y'all're set and in expert shape. If it doesn't, talk to them about retrofitting your electric current setup to include one. In an existing home, an HRV is ane of the all-time places to fight confronting radon.
This is a good time of year to have your HVAC serviced before nosotros get into the winter season, so ensure your system is in tip-top shape before the deep freeze hits.
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24-hour interval ninety: Transport Out Your Radon Test for Results
Send out your long-term radon exam to confirm the results of your outset rapid test.
Day 100: Install Your Radon Mitigation System of Choice
If the levels in your indoor air came dorsum loftier enough to mitigate, now's your adventure to remove radon from your home.
Recollect why I said back on day xxx, having a working HRV was a good idea? It's because this is truly the simplest solution to adding a radon reduction system to your home.
A device chosen a Radostat attaches direct to your HRV – and it consistently monitors your home for any spikes in radon gas.
If it detects radon peaking at dangerous levels, it will trigger an air exchange in your home. Information technology pulls radon-infused outdoors, while fresh, new, treated air cycles through your system and redistributes back into your abode.
It's a elementary device that y'all don't even take to think virtually. Just remember that yous should never plough your HRV off – it needs to be running constantly.
If your well water tested positive for radon, read this and picket the video below.
Day 730: Start your Radon Test
Health Canada suggests testing your home for radon every two years or and so, to ensure that your level or radon hasn't spiked to dangerous levels. Even if you've taken steps to mitigate radon in your abode, for peace of mind, you should still perform another exam.
Testing for and mitigating radon isn't a big undertaking. With a picayune time and not much money, you can protect yourself from this potentially deadly gas. To me, it's money that'due south well spent. Put some of this year's renovation upkeep toward testing for, and potentially mitigating radon in your home.
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Where is Radon Most Commonly Found?
Radon can seep into a abode through pipes, windows, sump pumps, unfinished floors, crawl spaces, cracks in foundation walls, and floors-even through foundation walls. Remember, concrete is porous and radon is a gas. That ways it can penetrate through the tiny holes in a home's foundation walls.
There is a common misconception that only homes with basements are susceptible to radon entry. That's non true. If yous have a crawl space or a domicile built on a slab, you better go your home tested. Radon can even enter your home through your well water. The only manner to know if you accept information technology is to exam for it.
Regardless of location, the only way to know if a home contains dangerous levels of radon is to test for it. One firm can have radon levels next to null while the business firm next door can have levels that are off the charts.
Homeowners are encouraged to rent a professional to test for radon, such as a home inspector certified by the Canadian National Radon Proficiency Programme (C-NRPP), in order to ensure accurate test results. You can also hire a home inspector who tin test your home for radon.
READ Side by side:
- Radon Measurement and Testing Options
- Radon Mitigation Systems For New Home Structure
Source: https://makeitright.ca/holmes-advice/home-safety-maintenance/how-to-mitigate-radon-in-your-home-in-100-days-or-less/
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