Radon! What is it & why is it bad?

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Radon in the Home

You have purchased your first home! Hooray! You are all set to move in, you can’t wait to start putting things where they go, and then you get the information that the home tested positive for Radon. Now what?

What is Radon? Where does it come from?

Let’s start out by talking about what Radon is, a good majority of people do not know what it is, what it does or how it can be taken care of. Radon is a radioactive gas that has been proven to lead to cancer. Lung cancer specifically. It is made initially from the breaking down of Uranium. Radon naturally occurs, although it can be manmade it is very difficult to do so. You cannot see, smell, or taste radon at all, the only way to find it is to test for it. Before purchasing a home you should have it tested for Radon, it can save not only a life, but a lot of money in fixes if the home were to have it. The radioactive gas can be found in ground water, the ground itself and has also been found to sometimes get into homes via the materials used to build the home. Overall, Radon is something that you do not want to be inhaling or ingesting in any form for the sake of your health and wellbeing.

Testing for Radon

So how can you test for it? There are kits that you can buy, as well as companies that you can call. If you are choosing to do the test on your own it is best to test every two years. If radon is found then follow the below instructions.

What to do if your home has been found to have Radon?

If your home has been found to have high radon levels, something will need to be done before someone gets seriously ill from the invisible chemical. There are sites that will tell you to do this and that to make it cheaper to fix, but the honest truth is that you need to hire a professional. Radioactive chemicals are not something to mess with or create shortcuts for.

The best thing to do is to find your local radon mitigation business and give them a call. They can help with determining the best plan of action to get rid of the chemical, testing for radon and keep you and your family safe from this harmful chemical.

That being said, we tested the old house and the new house. The old house had way lower than actionable levels, but our new house was over the limit. I made a few different calls, got a few different estimates, and we went with SWAT.

It was not that bad a price, and since we had written into our home offer that are purchase offer was pending radon test, the sellers paid for it.

We had to have both sump pump with a clear acrylic cap and its vented to the outside. Considering that my craft studio, and miss Sarah’s playroom we’re both in the basement, this was extremely important for us. We also have a large fireplace room downstairs with the big TV and the DVDs… not to mention the third bathroom, but I have cleaned, because it has the huge honking bathtub that I’ve always fantasized about!

Here is my advice to you: have your house tested. The Madison and Sun Prairie area are known for high levels, because of the geographical land make up… you can pick up a home test kit for roughly 40 bucks, send it in after a couple of days, to pay another 40 or 50 bucks to check the results online. If you ask me, that’s pretty cheap to help prevent cancer for your family and pets.

The guy we used with professional, left the area very clean when he was done, and explained things to us…

Hopefully, after you test your house, you will not need to call them.

Blessings,

Dannelle