I am Certified by the "International Association of Certified Indoor Air Consultants" to provide Radon Gas Tests. Tests can be scheduled individually or can be associated with a Home Inspection. The cost of a Radon Test is discounted when scheduled with a Home Inspection
What is Radon Gas?
Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, radioactive gas that has been found in homes, schools, and buildings around the world. Radon comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil and rock and moves up into the indoor air that people breathe. It can also seep into ground water and remain trapped there. Therefore, if a home is supplied with water taken from a groundwater source (such as a well), there is greater potential for a radon problem. Radon mitigation systems is a proven method to reduce radon levels in homes and buildings. The Surgeon General of the United States has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States today. The only way to know if a home has a radon problem is to test it.
The Radon Test:
Closed-house conditions needs to be maintained 12 hours prior to the test.
This test period will be 48 hours + and must be made under closed-building conditions. Closed-building conditions are necessary in order to stabilize the radon and radon decay product concentrations, and increase the reproducibility of the measurement. Windows on all levels and external doors should be kept closed (except during normal entry and exit) during the measurement period. Normal entry and exit include a brief opening and closing of a door, but — to the extent possible — external doors should not be left open for more than a few minutes. In addition, external-internal air-exchange systems (other than a furnace), such as high-volume, whole-house and window fans, should not be operating. However, attic fans intended to control attic (and not whole-building temperature or humidity) should continue to operate.
Charcoal Liquid Scintillation employs a small vial of activated charcoal for sampling the radon. There will be two of these vials attached to a tripod, PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THIS TRIPOD.
Measurement Location for Short-term measurements should be made in the lowest lived-in level of the house.
Do not disturb the test device at any time during the test.
What Level of Radon Gas is Acceptable?
Radon in air is ubiquitous. Radon is found in outdoor air and in the indoor air of buildings of all kinds. EPA recommends homes be
fixed if the radon level is 4 pCi/L (pico Curies per Liter) or more. Because there is no known safe level of exposure to radon,
EPA also recommends that Americans consider fixing their home for radon levels between 2 pCi/L and 4 pCi/L.
The average radon concentration in the indoor air of America’s homes is about 1.3 pCi/L. It is upon this level that
EPA based its estimate of 20,000 radon-related lung cancers a year upon. It is for this simple reason that EPA recommends
that Americans consider fixing their homes when the radon level is between 2 pCi/L and 4 pCi/L.
The average concentration of radon in outdoor air is .4 pCi/L or 1/10th of EPA’s 4 pCi/L action level.
Inspections Done Right
