subject: The Hidden Danger Of Radon In Our Homes [print this page] Is the air you breathe safe? Within our world full of toxic matter, there's one that is starting to rise to the top, literally. Radon Gas. I had never thought about Radon, and to be honest, I didn't even know where it came from until I saw a special on my local news a couple of years ago stating that the area I live, Huntsville (North Alabama), has some of the highest levels of Radon in the country!
At that time, I was staying at home with my ten month old son, in the middle of doing home improvement projects, running a business from home, and trying to keep my home clean; it was for sale at that time. I thought about testing my home for Radon, but time went by, and I was "too busy" to worry about it. In mid December 2008, someone who had decided to purchase our home had it tested. To our dismay, the levels came back high. I was so frantic, that I packed up my things, called my husband at work and begged that we leave early for our Christmas trip to visit family. I could literally feel my throat closing in just from the thought of Radon floating around in my house, and I thought I would have an anxiety attack if I didn't leave soon. I was so scared for my baby, who I thought would be at a higher risk of possible lung damage because of his size; but now I know that the risk is the same for adults and children.
So, what happened with my home? The person who had our house tested backed out of buying it. However, I am grateful to them for exposing this invisible danger to us. We obviously decided to mitigate our Radon, so we got a quote from a local Radon mitigation company. We were shocked to see the $2800 price tag! The funny thing that my husband noted about the quote was this: It was all labor cost! The supplies weren't expensive at all. My husband and his family are what you would call "fixers." They aren't afraid to tackle industrious projects, so we decided to mitigate the Radon ourselves. It wasn't rocket science; it took about half a day, some drilling, and a little "know how" when it came to the logistics. It's basically a Radon Fan, and a lot of PVC pipe. After installing the system, regular testing should be performed to monitor the levels since they can change often.
