ST. PAUL, Minn. – (Jan. 18, 2018) – Thousands of Minnesotans are being exposed to potentially deadly levels of radon gas in their homes every day, without even knowing it.
“It’s a colorless, odorless gas,” says MN Dept. of Health Indoor Air Supervisor Dan Tranter. “It comes in through the foundation of our homes and other buildings. When you breathe radon in for a long period of time, it damages the lungs, which can cause lung cancer.”
Minnesota is a radon hot bed, and our homes generally give us the greatest exposure.
“Our geology naturally has a lot of radon,” said Tranter.
January is National Radon Month, and home owners are encouraged to spend a little time and a little money to learn more about the levels of radon in their home.
Fewer than 1,000 homes in Anoka County test their levels in any given year, and state officials are hoping to change that.
“It is hard to get people to take it seriously because you can’t see it or smell it,” says Tranter.
Fortunately, testing radon levels is fairly easy. One common test involves hanging a special envelope on the lowest lived-in level of your homes for three days. It could be the basement, or the next level up, depending on where you spend your time. After three days, you mail the envelope to a testing facility.
There are several other do-it yourself tests available, including tests that last up to 12 months. You can also hire a radon professional to do a radon reading for you. If the home has more than 4 picocuries of radon per liter of air, homeowners are encouraged to put in a radon mitigation system. It is a pipe that goes into the foundation and vents the radon outside.
Most radon contractors will guarantee that a mitigation system will get your radon levels down to an acceptable level that can be proved with a follow up test. But, the first step in getting the first test done.
State health officials recommended testing your home every five years. Currently only 17 out of every 10,000 homes across the state are tested each year, leaving most people to only guess what their exposure is – even though half of our homes have dangerous levels of radon.
“Across the state, any given house has about a 50/50 chance of having a problem,” says Tranter.
