Breckenridge real estate digest

There are quite a few questions and blogs about radon posted on Trulia Voices. Whenever I’ve read them I’ve envisioned Julia Roberts running around as Erin Brockovich, surreptitiously collecting water samples tainted with Chromium 6, exposing contamination and corruption.

Though the reality is not so sensational, it is still quite serious and something that Hollywood could certainly spin into a chilling drama. I can see the ad already:

You can’t see it.

You can’t smell it.

You can’t taste it.re

But it’s a danger to you and your family.

And it might be lurking in your home right now.

RADON

Seriously though, Radon isn’t something to make light of. It is an invisible, oderless and tasteless natural gas that, according to the EPA, is the “leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers [and] is the second leading cause of lung cancer in America and claims about 20,000 lives annually.” Breckenridge realty

Radon is formed through the decay of Uranium which is found in the soil and and can become trapped inside your home as it rises up through the air. Though the EPA Map of Radon Zones indicates that higher levels of radon are found more often in the northern United States, they say that all homes should be tested for elevated radon levels no matter the location. Homeoners can hire a professional to test for radon or purchase a do-it-yourself kit that is sent to a lab for analysis once the test has run it’s course.

The EPA doesn’t call for mitigation efforts until a level of 4 pCi/L is found in a home but they are also very clear that any exposure to radon can contribute to cancer risk and lower levels are always preferred. To put that level into some perspective, in their Citizen’s Guide to Radon, the EPA states that, “The average indoor radon level is estimated to be about 1.3 pCi/L, and about 0.4 pCi/L of radon is normally found in the outside air.”

The most common method to lower radon levels in a home is to install a ventilation system which averts radon from the home and directs it outside instead. Though there seems to be little information as to the exact impact this has on the pCi/L level in a home, the EPA indicates that this  ‘fixes’ the problem.

So while Radon is something that home-owners should be aware of, high levels in a home don’t seem to pose a permanent problem.

For more information about radon and your home I encourage you to check out these links below to sites that I found to be quite informative on the matter.