Chestnut Home Builders | Chestnut Encourages Livingston Radon Awareness
Have you picked up your free Radon Test Kit?
Our friends at Livingston County Department of Public Health announced January as National Radon Action Month.
Edjucate yourself and your family. As fellow residents, and local Livingston County new home construction firm (Chestnut Home Builders), we feel it very necessary to keep up to date on this topic so we can help to inform our clients of the latest options available to new home buyers.
Watch an interesting presentation on New Home Radon System Installation:
Sections of News Release provided by Livingston County Department of Health
January is National Radon Action Month – an opportune time for Livingston County residents to test for radon in their homes, a health risk facing millions of Americans.
Because families are spending more time indoors during the winter months, January is a good time to test for this radioactive, invisible, odorless gas. Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. The EPA estimates that approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year are radon-related. Radon comes from the natural (radioactive) breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water and gets into the air you breathe. Radon enters buildings through openings in the foundation floor or walls (sump openings, crawlspaces, floor/wall joints, cracks, etc.). Radon can become trapped in buildings and lead to elevated and harmful radon levels.
One in eight Michigan homes is likely to have an elevated radon level. According to a study conducted by the MDEQ, radon is present in elevated levels in about 40% of Livingston County homes. Radon is tasteless, odorless, and colorless, and it has no warning symptoms (it does not cause headaches, nausea, fatigue, etc.).
Testing is the only way to know if you and your family are at risk for health issues caused by radon. LCDPH is offering free short-term radon test kits January 1st through January 31st. Test kits are available at the Environmental Health Division office, located at 2300 East Grand River Avenue, Howell, MI. Radon test kits are also available for purchase at local hardware stores, home improvement centers, some supermarkets, or directly from a laboratory. The EPA recommends that houses with radon levels of 4 picocuries per liter or more of radon should be fixed to prevent accumulation of the gas indoors. Radon problems can be fixed by qualified contractors for a cost similar to that of many common home repairs, such as painting or having a new water heater installed (anywhere from $500 to about $2,500).
Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer to smoking, accounting for over 20,000 deaths a year. Livingston County test data indicate that we have radon concentrations that average over the EPA action limit of 4.0 pCi/L.
For more radon information, contact the Livingston County Department of Public Health at (517) 546-9858, or the State of Michigan Radon Program at 1-800-RADON-GAS. Radon information can also be accessed via the web at www.lchd.org or www.michigan.gov/deqradon
Questions about New Home Building and Radon Controls?
Contact Steve Gronow, Owner/Builder of Chestnut Home Builders. 810.599.8359
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