There are many steps that home owners take to make sure that there property is safe. They make sure that they have sturdy handrails installed on stairs inside their home. They make sure that carefully install flooring surfaces and that the house in kept clean and healthy. In spite of all these precautions, however, there is a problem that can still cause both danger and damage. In some homes, in fact, radon is an odorless, tasteless, and colorless radioactive gas that can be very dangerous.

What is radon testing? Unfortunately, most people do not know the importance of residential radon testing. Short-term radon detectors measure radon levels for two days to 90 days, depending on the kind of device that is used. In comparison, long-term tests determine the average concentration for more than 90 days. These measured levels then help a potential home buyer understand whether or not the levels are safe. And while many states require that buyers and sellers have a radon testing company take a reading before a home sale is approved, many home owners do not check the radon levels any time after they move in.

What is radon mitigation? When radon levels are deemed too high to be safe, radon mitigation companies have a number of services that they can provide. From making sure that a sump pump is properly covered to recirculating the air in a space, radon levels can be lowered.

Consider some of these other facts and figures about radon and the testing and mediation services that can make sure that homes are safe:

• Scientists estimate that lung cancer deaths could be reduced by 2% to 4%, equivalent to 5,000 deaths, by lowering radon levels in homes exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) action level.
• When radon ventilation fans are added radon levels can even be reduced further, but even passive systems of mitigation have been shown to be capable of reducing indoor radon levels by more than 50%.
• Living in conditions with 16% per 100 Bq/m in long time average radon concentrations, the risk of lung cancer increases significantly.
• Nearly one in 15 homes in America is estimated to have radon levels at or above the recommended EPA action level.

If you are a property owner it is important that you make sure that every part of your home or business is important, not just the thinks that are seen but those that are unseen as well.