Today’s post isn’t a pretty one, but it is a very important one. It could save lives. Are you familiar with radon gas? It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that lives in the soil and infiltrates our homes. There are radon patches all over this country, and some are worse than others. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the country according to the surgeon general. According to the EPA, one in three homes has unacceptable levels of radon. The acceptable level is 4. If your home’s level is over 4, then action is recommended by the EPA.
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This map shows the hot spots around the country.
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Kentucky is a hot spot; Lexington is a hot spot within the state, and our neighborhood is a hot spot within Lexington. We had a radon filtration system in our last house out of necessity, and we have one in this house also out of necessity.
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Our Radon Numbers
When we moved into our last house, our radon reading was 20. With the filtration system, we were able to keep it at 1.5. This house had a radon filtration system that the previous owner installed, but it wasn’t working properly. We were shocked to learn that our radon level here was 32. With one adjustment, it has lowered to 6.9, which is still too high. Further adjustments will be professionally made this month to lower our numbers much more. You can look up your state’s, county’s, and city’s radon levels by doing a google search.
A Simple and Inexpensive Test
So, I want you all to do a favor for me. Since it’s the new year, and we are all doing things to make ourselves healthy, find out if your home has radon levels that need to be controlled. You can either do the test yourself using a kit like this one that costs less than $20.00, or you can have a professional do the test for you. If you purchase the kit, you mail your readings to a lab that will email the results to you. That is all covered in the price. We had a pro do our test because we already had a system in place that was ailing.
Please do this test. It will be one less thing you have to worry about.
Take care.
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