A lot of people nowadays are focused on health and wellness. They’re spending one hour at the gym every day, and they think it’s making them healthy. In addition, they also pay attention to their diet as well as their calorie intake and the macronutrients in every meal.
However, when it comes to being completely healthy, that includes the physical, mental, and social side of things. Your home needs to be a haven where you feel comfortable. The same thing applies to work. No one wants to be stressed.
Another thing that can jeopardize your health is toxic gases. Radon is a silent killer that can sneak up to people without them even noticing. This could happen in an office building, in a home, or even a warehouse structure. All of these buildings have one thing in common.
The thing they all share is that they can accommodate a lot of people at the same time. If you’re exposed to this type of gas on a regular basis, you might not even notice that you need to take action. Your health might be harmed without you or your friends or relatives even realizing it.
The more you get exposed, the worse the circumstances can get. This is why every landlord and real estate owner needs to do an inspection. Exposure could lead to lung cancer and many related diseases. If high levels are detected, a mitigation system needs to be installed to keep things under control and to create a safe working and living environment.
The Basics
Most people only paid attention at school when a fun chemistry experiment was about to happen. There’s a reason why we learn every subject. That applies to chemistry too. Here are some of the facts you might have missed in high school. First of all, there are a lot of gases in nature.
We breathe oxygen, and we exhale carbon dioxide. There are other components to air, such as nitrogen, and they also form the atmosphere in the skies. Radon falls into the category of natural gas, which has no odor or color.
This means that you can’t even notice that something is wrong. You might be inhaling it even if you’re filtering the air with a purifier. One of the most troublesome things about these hazards is that they can get inside a space through gaps, crevices, holes, and cracks on the wall. If this issue doesn’t get addressed immediately, the problems could become severe and even deadly.
In the United States alone, there are more than 20 000 deaths each year that are directly related to these kinds of issues. Even though the numbers are enough to set the alarms, people aren’t aware of what’s happening. If your health starts to deteriorate rapidly due to this problem, it might already be too late.
This specifically applies to smokers who already have weak lungs. Here’s how it works. When air enters our lungs, it passes through all the linings and pipelike structures until it reaches the alveolus. The more radon gets inhaled, the more harm gets done to the cells.
Having a basic or ordinary air purifier at home is ineffective when it comes to this problem. A system needs to be constructed that will minimize the levels. If you burn wood to get warm in the winter, that’s an additional problem. Follow this link for more info https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/radiological/radon/radon.htm
This only exacerbates the problem. The same thing is true about smoking. These two processes contaminate your lungs and add to the exposure to toxic gases. If you act quickly, then the situation can be changed.
What Can You do at Home?
If you’re someone who has an office job instead of an outdoor one, then you’re breathing indoor air during the entire day. It doesn’t matter if you’re at home, in your car, or at work. There are AC systems that have filters that will stop particles from making it inside of the buildings.
But that doesn’t apply to gas molecules. They can pass through anything. Most of the devices used for purification try to clean what we inhale, but that’s not enough. There are dangers that need the intervention of specialists.
If you’re in an outside space, that’s not a problem. You’re not confined to a location, and there is a lot of wind, even if it feels like there’s no breeze. When you get indoors, there can be a buildup, and you might be getting into something hazardous. That’s why testing is important.
Your home functions like a vacuum. Here’s how it works. Radon has lower pressure compared to the earth, and that’s why it wants to get inside fractures, holes, loose pipes, and wall cavities. These flaws are a part of every house or apartment, and there’s no way to fight them apart from setting aside a bit of money for repairs.
Usually, there’s no need to do an overhaul of the entire piece of real estate. One of the best things to do is to fill up all the holes and cracks. You will notice the improved quality. That’s if you live in an apartment. If you have a house with a basement, then radon can come in through the ground because it comes from the earth. For this reason, you need to test it.
What’s Next?
Apart from testing, there’s no other way to figure out whether you’re exposed to this type of gas or not. You could do the procedure yourself, or you can ask for the services of professionals to do it for you. Before you do anything, make sure that all of the doors in your home have been closed for more than 12 hours.
This is one of the things that are super important because it prevents the outside air from entering. The best time to test is when the weather is calm, and there are no strong winds or storms. You could go to a store and take a short-term test which is the quickest method and the cheapest.
It lasts for a week, and you can either get it online or go to a hardware store. If there is suspicious data there, then it’s probably better to change the approach to the long term. This option usually lasts three months, and it’s much more precise.
The reason why it so long is that the weather influences the metrics. Furthermore, there’s also the option of monitoring. This is where you don’t test the levels, but you monitor them on a daily basis. If you have this type of system, it can last for decades. It’s a small gadget that gets plugged in and shows numbers on a screen. If you invest in it, this might prove to be the best option if you follow a dollar-cost averaging strategy.
Putting Your Trust in Experts
There are people that perform radon service tests for a living, every day, five days a week. If you’re a hobbyist or you want to do a DIY project, then it’s cool to do it on your own. But if you own a complex of buildings or if you’re leading a company, getting outside help is a must.
Specialists are the most accurate in this type of job, and they have the best equipment. They also handle mitigation, and their top priority is to make every building a safe environment. When it comes to the services being offered, they outperform any kit that you can buy online.
This includes high-quality equipment, installation, and testing. The same rule of closing the doors for 12 hours applies to them too, which will ensure they can read the results with accuracy. Before you contact them, make sure that you do your own research and look for the most renowned businesses. Another problem that you might have been a mitigation system that’s already installed.
It might not be working properly, but you don’t have a way to figure it out. Regular maintenance is crucial when it comes to these kinds of machines. If the old appliance doesn’t work, a team of experts can create a new one that’s tailored to your office or home because every building is different.
The designs and the capacity of the machines are going to differ too. If you’re someone who has employees, it makes no sense to put their lives in danger. That’s both unprofessional and extremely reckless because you could suffer legal problems too.
Make sure to create a safe environment where every person can perform at their best. Safety and security should always be at the top of the list when it comes to priorities. Most people are concentrated on their day-to-day activities, and they often forget to look after their health.
It’s even more true when it comes to something that can’t be felt, smelt, or seen. Natural gases can be handled if safeguards are placed before the health consequences start to arise. The sooner you implement these tests and changes, the better it’s going to be for you and the people around you.