HOME INSPECTIONS - RADON AWARENESS

Home Inspections

Radon Awareness

By Dianne Guzik The Art of Home Inspection

705-741-8692 aohi2007@gmailcom

So what’s this all about anyway? Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that escapes from the ground and is quickly dissipated. However, if it gets trapped inside your home, over time it may build to an unhealthy level.

It gets in through cracks in a foundation floor, walls, pipes, vents, sump pumps, floor drains etc. Most often during heating season the vent ing of furnaces, wood burning appliances, bath room and kitchen fans etc. will depressurize the interior of the home causing it to pull air in from wherever it can. If your home sits on an area that has a high concentration of Radon gas it pulls the Radon into your home. Over time the trapped Radon can build to an unhealthy level leading to a risk of lung cancer. Even if you are a nonsmoker but greater if you are a smoker. We now spend way more time in the basement and it can raise concerns. Radon concentration is higher in the basement level but it can migrate up to other

levels. The only way to know your homes Radon level is to test it. Hiring a professional will give you the most accurate results but a store bought do-it-yourself test kit is a good start. Follow the instructions carefully. When talking about Radon we don’t say safe level, only acceptable level. Can ada’s standard lags behind the world at below 200 Becquerels (200 Bq/m3) for an acceptable level recently reduced from (800 Bq/m3). That level is scary. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets the acceptable level at (100 Bq/m3). The U.S.A. at (148 Bq /m3). Seal all the above mentioned areas and install an H.R.V. I encourage more research on this important topic www.healthcanadagc.ca/ radon or call 1-800-622-6232 to start.