January is National Radon Month!
For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with radon, it is an odorless gas that is undetectable by humans. As described on the EPA website;
Radon is a cancer-causing natural radioactive gas that you can’t see, smell or taste. Its presence in your home can pose a danger to your family’s health. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in America and claims about 20,000 lives annually. Learn how you can protect your family. Test Your Home for Radon — it’s easy and inexpensive. Fix your home if you have a radon level of 4 pCi/L or more.
In Charlottesville, the standard is to test for radon when you purchase your home during the inspection period (and some people will opt not to test at all) but for most people, that is the first and only test for radon that they will do on their home. There are many areas in Charlottesville where radon gas is present in homes, so if you’ve never checked- now is a great time!
Testing for radon is easy and inexpensive, and the EPA Radon site has lots of local and national links to help connect you with how to purchase a self-test, connect with someone locally to administer a professional test, and find people to mitigate a radon problem should you have one.
Locally, one of my preferred home inspectors, John Handloser with Pillar to Post Home Inspections, will be happy to administer a professional radon test in your home- call him a few days in advance to schedule him to come out.
