Radon Services Testing / Mitigation
All About Mold (AAM) and its professionals are experienced, trained and certified to provide radon testing and mitigation services for homes, commercial buildings and new construction. AAM will reduce the radon levels in your home or commercial property (below 4.0 pCi/I) in accordance with the standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
What is Radon?
Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of radium. Radon is a significant contaminant that affects indoor air quality worldwide. Radon gas from natural sources can accumulate in buildings, especially in confined areas such as basements and can be found in some spring waters.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), radon is reportedly the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking. If you are a smoker and you have elevated levels of radon within your home, your chances for Lung Cancer increase exponentially! The EPA also reports that radon-induced lung cancer is the 6th leading cause of cancer death and reportedly causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States.
Therefore, All About Mold (AAM) along with the EPA and PADEP strongly recommend that you test your home for radon.
Radon Testing
All About Mold (AAM) utilizes the latest technology for conducting radon testing in homes and commercial buildings. In most cases, electronic continuous radon monitors are placed in the lowest livable floor for a period of 2-7 days. These devices record the radon levels on an hourly basis and provide us with a true average over a set period of time. Various features of our testing kits allow us to discern if any disturbances have impacted the test results such as transient weather.
The United States Surgeon General and the EPA both recommend that all homes be tested for radon. The EPA estimates that nationally 8% to 12% of all houses in the United States are above their maximum safe levels of 4.0 pCi/I and recommends that mitigation systems be installed in all homes exceeding 4.0 pCi/l.
Radon Mitigation
All About Mold (AAM) provides professional installation of state-of-the-art radon mitigation systems.
The first priority in the installation of a mitigation system is to lower the radon level to create a safe and healthy living environment. Like most gasses, radon is affected by air pressure. When a home's basement or foundation punctures the soil, it acts like a vacuum offering an area of lesser pressure, relative to the surrounding area. Radon then is literally sucked into the home through any cracks or gaps in the foundation. Once inside the home, a tight building envelope will help concentrate gas levels, and the home is then vulnerable to long-term exposure.
The best practice for radon mitigation is active sub-slab depressurization but other systems and methods are available and utilized dependent on the structure and the situation. The goal of a sub-slab depressurization system is to capture and contain the radon before it enters the living space, then force the gas out of the home. It involves the installation of one or more perforated suction pipes beneath the slab that serve to collect the radon from the soil. The suction pipe(s) are then connected to a single pipe that carries the radon from the sub-slab to the exterior of the structure. A vent fan is installed to make the sub-slab depressurization active and will force the radon from the dwelling where it can be diluted in the atmosphere.
