For perspective, the average outdoor air level of radon is 0. Professional mitigation is the only reliable way to reduce elevated radon readings. Radon is radioactive and hazardous to your health. When inhaled into the lungs, it can damage DNA and cause lung cancer. While many newer homes are built with radon-resistant features or passive radon systems , these are not always enough to sufficiently reduce radon levels in your home.
While any amount of exposure to radon gas constitutes a health risk, your risks of contracting lung cancer decrease significantly as radon levels decrease.
For example, a person living in a house with a radon level of 4. A radon level of 4. Professional mitigation can often reduce radon levels to 0. The thing to keep in mind is that the risk for lung cancer from radon is random and defies statistics. People may be exposed for a lifetime at very high levels without getting lung cancer, while others may be exposed at moderate levels for a year or two and contract lung cancer.
Radon is one of the few environmental hazards we have some control over. One possible explanation for the regional variations in outdoor radon is the variation in the uranium concentration of the ground. However, very little correlation was found between radon and uranium concentration.
The major factor that influenced the outdoor radon data was found to be the soil moisture content of the ground. When the soil pores are filled with water, radon cannot move through the soil, since it is a gas. Furthermore, it has a half-life of only 3. Analysis of the precipitation data also showed that the summer of was particularly dry on the prairies. The city of Winnipeg had its driest July to October for years. Therefore the high radon levels found in the prairies during the summer of may not be typical.
Subsequent measurements taken over a 3 week period in July showed that the outdoor radon levels in Manitoba were reduced by a factor of approximately 4 from their levels. This was attributed to the much greater precipitation which occurred during and shortly before the measurement period. Many people in the U. The overall average was 0. The graph above is outdoor radon measurements made at different heights over a three day period.
The measurements were made at 6" above grade, 3 feet 1 meter above grade and 18 feet 6 meters above grade. The interesting fact is there is no difference in the outdoor radon measurements between 6" and 18 feet above grade. However on the second day the 18 foot measurement falls rapidly before the lower measurements as if a breeze cleared the air.
The graph above was outdoor measurements over 21 days at a home in Allentown, Pennsylvania. This location had lower outdoor radon levels avg 0. Note the spikes that took place during some of the nights. This final graph gives the average of each hour during those 21 days. This clearly shows that the highest outdoor radon levels are between 5 AM and 7 AM in the early morning before sunrise and the lowest outdoor radon is between 2 PM and 5 PM.
Online estimates.
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