Brett Sherry>> Radon is actually the second leading cause of lung cancer. It's the leading
cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, so it's a significant health concern, obviously. It
is a concern for not just homeowners but pretty much anybody who lives inside a home. Any
home could have a radon problem, so that would be rental properties as well. So, radon is
a naturally occurring radioactive gas. It comes out of the ground. It's a natural part
of our environment. You'll actually find radon gas in the outdoor air as well. So, it's,
it's everywhere; it's all round us. The problem is when it comes up through the ground and
builds to dangerous levels in our homes. So this doesn't happen to every house. It happens
to certain houses that tend to be in certain geological areas or geographic areas. And
different house conditions also play into this. So the radon gas is actually drawn into
our house because of pressure differences or homes are under negative pressure. It pulls
radon gas from the soil and basically lets it build up in the home. The only way to know
if radon gas is actually in your home is to test for it. It's invisible, colorless, odorless,
tasteless. We can't tell if it's there by our senses. So the only way to know, the only
way to know if it's actually there is to test for it. So, radon is coming from the ground,
and it's heavier than air, so you'll tend to find higher concentrations in lower levels
in the home. So if you have a basement, that's usually where you'll find the highest levels.
However, the recommendation is to test your lowest living area. So, if your basement is
used for storage or for laundry, then you really don't spend that much time down there.
It may seem like you're doing a lot of laundry, but it's not as much time as you're actually
spending in your living room or your bedroom. So you want to test your lowest living area.
So, if again, that basement is just for storage, test your living room, your bedroom, that's
where you're actually spending the most time. We have a good idea of some of the hot spots
around the state, but there are a lot of areas where we just don't have enough test data,
so we don't necessarily know. We know that the Portland area, for one example, uh, does
have a higher potential for, for, radon. We do have a lot of test data for that particular
area. Other parts of the state, there have been some pockets. So La Grande, we found,
some, some pretty high levels as well. The Salem area, we have found some high levels.
It does kind of pop around the state. If you look at a map of the entire state, it's, it's,
it's kind of hit or miss all around the state. So, what we're really pushing for is to get
more testing done so we have a better understanding as to where the higher potential areas are.
So, most folks test their homes themselves. The first time around, they'll go out and
actually buy a radon test kit. They vary in price, but average price is around $15.00.
This is an example of what they would look like; it's just a small envelope. Basically
they'll send this to you in the mail or you can pick it up at a local hardware store.
What you do is just record the start and stop time of the test. You let this hang in your
living room or bedroom or wherever area you're testing. They need to sit in place for at
least 48 hours. Most test kit manufacturers recommend between 3 to 5 days. After that
timeframe, you record the stop time, you seal it up, you send off to the laboratory and
they'll send you your results and you'll usually get them in about a week. So, it's a pretty
quick turnaround time. Shortterm tests are what most folks start with 'cause, it's, it's
quick. Uh, gives you a quick result, and they're relatively inexpensive. Test kits are basically
broken down into two categories: shortterm tests and longterm tests. Short terms are
anywhere from, uh, 48 hours up to 90 days. Long-term tests are 91 days up to a year,
and they both have pros and cons. So, the, the short-term tests are good because they're
quick and they're cheap. Uh, long-term tests, they're gonna give you a much more accurate
reading. It's gonna take all of those variations from high and low radon concentrations in
your home and average it into one number. So, long-term tests are more reliable; short-term
tests are not as reliable, but they're inexpensive and quick. So there's some tradeoffs for both
of them. So that's the best part of this; radon, radon problems can be fixed. What most
folks will do is contact the radon professional. There are mitigation companies that can come
out and actually mitigate your home. So what that means is basically venting that radon
gas out from underneath your home to the outdoors. So if you have a basement, they'll put a small
pas, uh, plastic pipe through your foundation floor. They'll run that pipe either up through
the house or out the side of the house to the roofline, and a fan draws air from underneath
the house and vents it outside. So you're kind of changing that pressure difference
between the soil and the house, itself. For a crawl space, it'd be a similar scenario.
They put down plastic sheeting and they seal that plastic all together and to the perimeter
and any support pilings that might be underneath there, and then they draw air from underneath
that plastic sheet and vent it outside. So basically you're, you're capturing any soil
gas that's coming up and venting it outside so it doesn't have a chance to get drawn into
your home. So we have lots of information about radon on our web site. That's www.healthoregon.org/radon.