Opening windows improves air circulation and ventilation, helping move radon out of the house and mixing radon-free outside air with indoor air. Opening basement windows helps reduce negative air pressure, diluting radon with clean outdoor air.

Radon is a radioactive gas that has been found in homes all over the United States. It comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water and gets into the air you breathe. Radon typically moves up through the ground to the air above and into your home through cracks and other holes in the foundation.

Possible symptoms include shortness of breath (difficulty breathing), a new or worsening cough, pain or tightness in the chest, hoarseness, or trouble swallowing. If you smoke and you know you’ve been exposed to high levels of radon, it’s very important to quit smoking.

Radon levels are usually higher in basements, cellars and living spaces in contact with the ground. However, considerable radon concentration can also be found above the ground floor. Radon concentrations vary considerably between adjacent buildings, as well as within a building from day to day and from hour to hour.

Active subslab suction — also called subslab depressurization — is the most common and usually the most reliable radon reduction method. One or more suction pipes are inserted through the floor slab into the crushed rock or soil underneath. They also may be inserted below the concrete slab from outside the home.

Several years after finishing the basement, you might find that the radon level has increased above the EPA’s action limit (4 pCi/L) and must be reduced to make the house marketable. But once the basement has been finished, you have to get a fan-based radon mitigation system ($1,200 on average).

To answer that question, yes, radon levels in a home tend to be higher during the winter. And those higher levels of radon gas can lead to an increased chance of lung cancer. While indoor radon gas levels are generally higher during winter, sometimes the summer can have higher indoor radon levels.

If a person has been exposed to radon, 75% of the radon progeny in the lungs will become harmless lead particles after 44 years. When a particle damages a cell to make it cancerous, the onset of lung cancer takes at least five years, but often takes 15 to 25 years and even longer.

In fact, because radon levels almost always can be reduced, they shouldn’t prohibit a sale, notes the National Radon Program Service at Kansas State University: “As long as the issue is resolved in the real estate transaction, the radon level should not be a deterrent to buying any home.”

Radon mitigation is not covered under homeowner’s insurance. However, sometimes, the seller will pay for this mitigation, although you may have to split the costs in other instances or pay for it entirely on your own.

An active radon sump, fitted with a fan, is the most effective way to reduce indoor radon levels. Sumps work best under solid floors and under suspended floors if the ground is covered with concrete or a membrane. Occasionally, passive sumps without a fan may reduce radon levels.

If we breath in high levels of radon over long periods of time this exposure can lead to damage to the sensitive cells of our lungs which increases the risk of lung cancer. Radon causes about 1,000 lung cancer deaths in the UK every year.

Radon can enter your home through cracks and holes in the foundation, through well water, and via building materials, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says. It’s common: About 1 in every 15 homes has what’s considered an elevated radon level.

Radon is a colourless, odourless radioactive gas. It is formed by the radioactive decay of the small amounts of uranium that occur naturally in all rocks and soils.

Safe radon levels The best radon level measurement would be zero. The average global outdoor radon level varies between 5-15 Bq/m3, equal to 0.135-0.405 pCi/L. For every 99.9 Bq/m3, or every 2.7 pCI/L increase in long term radon exposure, lung cancer risk rises 16%4.

Radon levels are measured in picocuries per liter, or pCi/L. Levels of 4 pCi/L or higher are considered hazardous. Radon levels less than 4 pCi/L still pose a risk and in many cases can be reduced, although it is difficult to reduce levels below 2 pCi/L.

A persistent cough could be a sign that you have radon poisoning.

• Persistent cough.
• Hoarseness.
• Wheezing.
• Shortness of breath.
• Coughing up blood.
• Chest pain.
• Frequent infections like bronchitis and pneumonia.
• Loss of appetite.

about 1.3 pCi/L

Radon Risk If You Have Never Smoked

Place a radon detector in the breathing zone, 2-6 feet above the floor, and away from drafts, exterior walls, sumps, drains, windows or doors. Radon may enter a building through cracks in the foundation or through sumps or drains and will usually be higher near these entry points.

This data shows how low-dose radiation actually has a protective heath effect, similar to the immune response caused by vaccines. The radon scare was set off because of lung cancer in early uranium miners. EPA rules ignore science, biology, and observed low-level radiation health effects.

The early warnings may have been overblown, but research since has shown that lung cancer risk from the gas is real. Americans held their collective breath when news of radon, a radioactive gas, seeped into the headlines during the 1980s.

You can’t see it, smell it, or taste it, but radon gas is a leading cause of lung cancer according to the National Cancer Institute. Yet the presence of radon in homes need not be a deal breaker.

You can do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. from a hardware store. Or you can order one by calling 1-800-SOS-RADON (1-800-767-7236) or going to the National Radon Program Services website (http://sosradon.org/test-kits). Set up the testing device to check the air for radon.

Radon Has No Smell In truth, radon doesn’t smell like anything at all. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas, which is what makes it all the more dangerous for you and your home. Only tests designed especially for radon can give you an accurate reading on the level of radon gas in your home.

Radon system costs can range from $750 to $5,000 per home. The average cost range to install a radon mitigation system in an average single-family home is between $1,100 and $2,500, with $1,400 being the average.

Here are the 10 states with the highest Radon levels:

• Alaska (10.7)
• South Dakota (9.6)
• Pennsylvania (8.6)
• Ohio (7.8)
• Washington (7.5)
• Kentucky (7.4)
• Montana (7.4)
• Idaho (7.3)

Radon (222Rn) is an odorless and colorless natural radioactive gas. It is produced during the radioactive decay of radium-226, itself a decay product of uranium-238 found in many types of crustal materials, i.e., rocks and soils.

Anyone can find out if a property is in a radon Affected Area by completing an online search. The search will tell you the chance of that property having a high radon level.

2600 pCi/l