One of the things that homeowners are unaware of when buying or selling a home is the presence of radon in their home. The problem is that radon is a colorless and odorless gas but without the right radon mitigation and abatement test, there is no way you can tell whether you have radon in your home. There are still low-levels of radon that are found in the air. The problem that radon poses is when it gets to your house and gets entrapped in a space for a long period of time. Continued exposure to radon can cause lung cancer which means that without effective residential radon testing in your home, you are literally risking your life and that of your family. Many homeowners have no idea how radon gets into the house. One way that the gas does this is by moving from the soil directly into the house. The most common point of entry is the gaps in the floors and walls that are common in many homes. Since you need a residential radon testing expert to establish whether there is radon presence in your home, regular testing is important to ensure that your home is safe from the gas. Of course there are many residential radon testing services that offer services such as sump pump installation as a way of radon abatement procedures. As long as you hire the right contractor, you are guaranteed that regular results can be relied on and you can use the abatement measures to ensure that radon does not find its way into your home.
How to Test Your Home for Radon
When it comes to residential radon testing, you need to take a number of measures just to make sure that the results are consistent and reliable. The greatest possibility of where you are likely to find the highest concentration of radon in the house are the lower areas especially the basement. This is where radon testing should be done. You can start with short terms tests that are simplistic but will still tell you whether there is radon presence in your basement. The most common method is the electret ion method that takes between two and seven days. After this period, you can mail the results to the nearest lab for analysis. There are long term radon tests that can take up to 90 days. The major benefit of long term radon testing is that the results are more accurate and can indicate the average annual radon levels in your home. This way, you can be able to choose the best radon mitigation strategy based on the tests. If you feel that there is need to keep monitoring your home for radon, then there are also continuous radon tests that constantly monitor and make alerts based on the levels. Most continuous tests are electric in nature and will give you real-time alerts regarding the presence of radon and the levels in your home. Whichever method you choose should be based on certain external factors such as soil moisture and snow cover that tend to trap radon gas.
How Does Radon Mitigation Work
There are different ways of radon mitigation and abatement but everything comes down to drawing the gas out of the house. This is done using PVC piping that should be able to draw the gas out of the soil. Most contractors will use a vent pipe that is placed in the sump pit for those homes that have a sump pit. After this, a special kind of fan is placed either outside the house or in the attic to draw radon through the vent. For residential radon testing services, different professionals often have different prices for their services. The challenge when choosing a radon testing contractor that you will probably encounter is knowing genuine contractors. There are equal chances that there are unqualified professional who pose as genuine contractors putting you and your family at risk. The difference in charges often depends with your home and the radon levels at the house. In most cases, the local radon office often has a list of qualified contractors offering residential radon testing services so this is the place you should start.
