If you have radon in your home, specifically high levels of radon in your home, you are most certainly not alone in this. Here in the United States, having radon in your home is actually quite a bit more commonplace than you might even realize. After all, recent research into the subject has found that, in some parts of the country, such as on some Native American reservations, up to one third of all homes have radon levels that either meet the action level that has been set by the EPA or even, in some cases, exceed it. And on a countrywide scale, up to one home out of every fifteen homes will have radon levels of this nature. Therefore, radon in your home is not as unlikely as you might think, especially if your home has recently undergone a sump pump installation or even sump pump excavation and you haven’t conducted residential radon testing since.
Fortunately, residential radon testing companies have become more commonplace than ever before, what with more and more learning about the potential of radon in the home. Before you hire a residential radon testing company to check for radon in your home, it will be important to understand exactly what services are being offered. Typically a short term radon detection test will be used, as this can detect radon levels in the home for still a considerable period of time – nearly three months (around 90 days on average, to be just a little bit more specific). In some cases, however, a longer period of radon detection will be necessary. Fortunately, it is still very much possible through the use of something like a long term radon detector, which the typical radon testing and inspection company will also be able to provide for your home.
Of course, it is essential here that we must talk about what the dangers of radon really are – and why radon in your home is not something that you want to leave untested and unmitigated. Unfortunately, far too many people in this country (and likely beyond it too, of course) simply just do not have a good idea or basis of knowledge surrounding the harm that radon in your home can cause. And that harm is significant, as radon exposure has actually been cited as the second leading cause of lung cancer, second after smoking and tobacco usage alone, all throughout the entirety of the United States, as per data gathered and synthesized by the United States Surgeon General. Unfortunately, this means that as many as a full 20,000 people will lose their lives on a yearly basis to lung cancer that was first caused by radon exposure, likely radon exposure that took place over a considerable period of time.
This is due to the radiation that radon exposes people to – and radon brings with it a whole lot of radiation. In fact, if you’re in a home with a radon level meeting the EPA action level for safe radon levels in homes, you are exposed to a higher level of radon than if you were standing next to a radioactive waste site – up to 35 times the amount of it, as a matter of fact. And we all know (or at least most now know) that too much exposure to radiation can truly wreak havoc on your life. Therefore, knowing how much radon is in your home is an absolute must, as high levels of radon in your home can do the very same thing – if not worse.
At the end of the day, radon detection and mitigation are two very important services. Fortunately, more and more people are learning about the dangers of radon and are now pursuing such measures to keep not only themselves safe, but their family members safe as well. Ultimately, finding radon in your home, especially high levels of radon in your home, does not mean you are destined for lung cancer, as there are now many ways to mitigate such radon levels, even bringing them back down to a safe range – or at least a relatively safe range – in a short period of time.