State health officials are sounding the alarm over the potential dangers of radon gas in your home during the winter months. “Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that comes from the ground soil up into homes through air pressure differential,” says Ellen Zoeller with DHHS. “Some people have it in their homes at a dangerous level without realizing it.”
This is Radon Awareness Week and Zoeller says it’s important that you test your home for the gas, which the EPA and the Surgeon General’s Office says is responsible for more than 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States. Radon can get trapped in homes and buildings and exposes the people who live and work inside, increasing their risk of developing lung cancer later in life.
Zoeller says the only way to know of unsafe levels of radon in homes or offices is by testing. She says you can contact the state radon office for testing or purchase a test kit in a hardware store or online. If the test results show that the radon levels are high enough and if there is a need to reduce radon in the space, contact the state radon office at (402) 471-1005 to help find a qualified or state-certified radon contractor in the area to remedy the problem.
Radon kits can also be purchased from a hardware or home improvement store. Zoeller has these tips to help lower radon levels in your home:
- Increase the airflow in any area by opening windows and using fans and vents to circulate air. However, natural ventilation in any type of house is only a temporary strategy to reduce radon.
- Seal cracks in floors and walls with plaster, caulk, or other materials designed for this purpose.
- Cover the earth floor in crawl spaces with a high-density plastic sheet. A vent pipe and fan can be used to blow the radon from under the sheet and vent it to the outdoors.
For more information visit www.dhhs.ne.gov/pages/radon.aspx.