Behind The Importance Of The Residential Radon Testing Service

Radon is an odorless and tasteless gas that is not able to be detected by sight, either. Unfortunately, this only makes it harder to detect – or for people to even know that it is worth the detection in the first place. But radon can actually be very harmful indeed, so much so that it is one of the top leading causes of lung cancer in the United States, as established by the United States Surgeon General. As a matter of fact, only smoking and tobacco usage leads to more lung cancer cases, at least within this country.

Unfortunately, lung cancer is often diagnosed once it has progressed a fair deal. Because of this, cure rates for lung cancer are often lower than for many other forms of cancer. Unfortunately, this means that up to 20,000 people will lose their lives to lung cancer throughout the course of a typical year here in the United States, and these are only the ones who are losing their lives to radon related causes.

And radon is actually much more prevalent – and in high levels, for that matter – than you might think. As a matter of fact, up to one home out of every fifteen homes in the United States will have levels of radon that meet or even exceed the action levels that have been set by the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States. Some areas are even more heavily impacted by radon and radon exposure. After all, it has been found that up to seven states have high levels of radon exposure, with up to one third of all homes within them meeting or exceeding these aforementioned EPA action levels. And the same can be said for as many as three separate Native American reservations in the country as well. And with each increase of 100 bq/m of radon in the typical home, the risk of contracting lung cancer increases by quite a lot, by a full 16%, as a matter of fact.

Therefore, the work of the residential radon testing service is hugely important. If you have not recently had your home tested for radon, hiring a residential radon testing service should be high on your list of priorities. A residential radon testing service is likely to be provided at any residential radon testing company here in the United States. But how, exactly, does this residential radon testing service work? Typically, a residential radon testing service will utilize a radon detector, either a short term detector or a long term one, both of which are available at many radon testing companies.

The short term radon test is frequently used by residential radon testing services, as it can typically be used for as little as two days but sometimes for as many as 90 days, nearly a full three months. Long term detectors, when deemed necessary, can also be utilized. Typically, they can extend past that 90 day, three month marker. But no matter what type of radon detector is used, it will be surveyed and inspected by your residential radon testing service.

But what happens if you have high levels of radon in your home? There is no denying the fact that such a thing can be quite frightening indeed. Fortunately, there are steps that can be taken to mitigate radon levels and bring them back down to safe levels, if not eradicate the presence of radon in your home just about entirely. After all, even passive methods of mitigation can reduce overall radon levels by as much as a full 50%. And radon ventilation fans and the like can further help to cut down radon levels within your home.

At the end of the day, radon is something that should be taken seriously in your home or even within your place of work. Radon is a serious threat, one that can lead to life threatening illness that all too often ends in death. However, there are most certainly steps that can be taken to protect yourself from radon, something that can provide tremendous peace of mind. At the end of the day, there is no need to panic in regards to radon levels found within your home.