January is Radon Awareness Month: Get Your Radon Testing Done

While radon testing isn’t an included part of a standard home inspection, it can be a very important aspect of it. While the average home inspection is mostly about making sure that the potential buyer isn’t financially harmed, radon inspection can help to protect a buyer is physically harmed.

Next month is Radon Awareness Month, and we’re quite happy to be a part of it in order to help people get this dangerous gas out of their homes.

What Is Radon?

Radon is a chemical element with the atomic number 86. This gas is created by the radioactive decay of natural uranium in the soil as it breaks apart into other elements. As radon itself decays (it’s one of the rarest elements on earth because it has a half-life of only 3.82 days), it emits radiation in the form of alpha particles.

Because homes are so well-sealed in order to maintain a tight thermal envelope, radon can build up over time as it seeps into the lowest level of a home via microscopic cracks in the foundation or holes associated with plumbing and water heaters.

Why Is Radon So Deadly?

Because radon is emitting alpha particles, it is not strong enough to penetrate skin. But when it is inhaled, these radioactive particles can get directly to the living cells of the lungs and damage the DNA. As the damaged DNA replicates, it can lead to lung cancer.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the world after tobacco use, and the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. More than 20,000 people in the United States alone die each year due to lung cancer attributed to radon.

Be Aware, Even Though You Can’t Sense It

With a name like “radon,” you’d think that it would be some sort of slowly creeping green gas that hangs around in the corner of the basement. That would actually be preferable, because it would scare people into taking action. While the sight of it would eliminate the need for radon testing, at least they’d get it mitigated and live in a safer home.

One of the most nefarious things about radon is that you can’t see it, even though it’s there. You can’t smell it either, as you can smell a gas leak. If you leave a glass of water around in the basement and some radon makes it way in, you can’t taste it either.

Why is Radon Awareness Month so important? Because people need to be made aware of something that they can’t detect with their senses. It’s a silent and deadly gas, and a person isn’t going to become aware of radon because of what their nose, eyes, or mouth are telling them.

No Home Is Immune

As part of Radon Awareness Month, we want to let you know that radon can change from area to area and even home to home. It’s important to have professional radon inspection done on a home before purchase, in order to protect the new homeowners and give peace of mind. If a problem is found, proper radon mitigation is the next step. Total House Inspection is ready to perform the vital service of radon testing. Contact us today!