All homeowners want their homes to be safe and healthy places for their families to live. You check smoke alarms, stock the first-aid kit, and filter indoor air and water. However, there could be an invisible and odorless carcinogenic gas in your home that can harm your family members over time. Learn about the dangers of radon so you can protect your loved ones from this threat.
What is Radon and How Does it Get Inside Buildings?
Radon is a radioactive gas produced when elements like uranium and thorium break down underground. It comes up through the soil and enters the atmosphere with no color, smell, or taste.
Outdoors, radon is harmless because it is diluted by the outside air. It can enter buildings through openings in the foundation, and it becomes a problem when it accumulates to a concentration that is unsafe to breathe. You cannot detect this problem in your home without a radon test.
What are the Dangers of Radon?
Living with high levels of radon increases your risk of lung cancer. Even if you don’t smoke cigarettes, the danger of getting lung cancer from radon is real. If you do smoke, complications are even more likely. Since it’s undetectable unless tested for, many people unknowingly live for years in a home with high radon levels.
How Can I Protect my Family from the Dangers of Radon?
The first step to protecting your family from radon is hiring a professional to conduct a radon test in your home. This is the most accurate way to find out the levels of radon in your home and whether your indoor air is safe. It’s not worth it to save money by using a DIY test kit. Those are often inaccurate, and you cannot properly protect your family without valid results.
Do I Have to Move if I’m Living with High Levels of Radon?
Fortunately, there are remedies for homes with elevated radon levels. Radon mitigation is reasonably priced and is effective in lowering radon levels and keeping them low. Catching a radon problem in your home sooner than later can save the lives of your loved ones.
Intteg Home Inspection provides home inspections to Northeast Indiana. Contact us to request our services.