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Image credit: Shane Lyle, Geology Extension
Kansas Geological Survey
January has been designated as Radon Awareness Month by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. But as a
homeowner, do you even know what radon is?
I caught up with my good friend
John Clason with Crown
Home Inspections to learn a little bit more. In honor of Radon Awareness Month, John
isn’t just inspecting homes for their radon levels, he’s doing it at a
discounted price!
Before I let you in on the discount
details, let’s explore what radon is and why your home may need to be tested.
As mentioned in a previous
Team Ohlde blog post, radon is a silent and odorless
gas that could leak into homes from the natural decay of uranium present in
different types of soil. Radon contains cancer-causing alpha particles that are
drawn from parched soil through draught-driven cracks in home foundation.
Believe it or not, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, only
behind smoking. The EPA estimates that approximately 22,000 people die each
year from lung cancer caused by radon.
So as you can infer, having high
radon levels in your home can be extremely dangerous. But the even scarier part
is that it’s almost impossible to tell what radon levels your home has unless
you do a radon test. A radon tests
includes a 48-hour moderation of the home. John at Crown Home Inspections uses
an electric continue radon monitor that tells the radon level for each hour
during the test and provides an overall reading at the end.
After the test, homeowners receive
an overview of their home’s radon levels. Any home with a radon level of 4.0
picocuries per liter of air or higher should act immediately. Luckily, it’s easy to fix any high
levels of radon.
What’s the fix exactly? A radon mitigation system can be
installed in a home in about 3-4 hours.
As the cliché phrase goes, it’s
better to be safe than sorry! Take the month of January to schedule a radon
testing for your home from Crown Home Inspections for just $100 (a $25 discount
off the regular price through February 15, 2014!). Visit Crown
Home Inspections website to learn more.
Want more help with keeping your
home safe and in shape? Check out my list of local services providers! Click
here.
