What lurks beneath the surface of the dirt is not often something we think about. Perhaps we should, especially if it could kill us.
Radon is one of the leading causes of lung cancer in non-smokers. When breathed in regularly, it damages our lungs making us vulnerable to illness. Radon is a colourless, odourless gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium in the soil. It seeps into our homes and is radioactive.
Uranium was instrumental in the sourcing of energy for over 60 years. It occurs in most rocks and its slow radioactive decay is the major source for heat inside the Earth, which has caused convection and continental drift. Roughly 11% of the worlds’ energy is derived from Uranium in Nuclear Generators.
How can we get rid of this silent killer? With the price of renovations, ripping apart the basement seems to be a task or challenge easily put on the sidelines.
Chantal Wilson from Little Bear Engineering states that it is much easier to remove from your home than one would think.
“It’s really quite minimally invasive….we can do everything through a five inch hole in the slab of the basement…or the slab on grade… we do some modifications to the soil to make it more porous and then we put in a pipe with a fan that exhausts outside to create a negative pressure under the slab…so if there is any air movement between the house and the ground, it will be house air moving down instead of the Radon air moving into the house”.
Revelstoke has a high level of Radon in all areas; some areas in particular are higher than others. Based on Wilsons’ testing, Arrow Heights and the Southside area are of highest concern. One house in that area had a level of over 22 times the Health Canada guideline amount. Revelstoke overall is roughly, 1.5 over the preferred guideline amount.
The average cost for Radon removal in Revelstoke is $2000-$3000 for your average sized home; for larger more complex homes the price would increase. To start, a $60.00 Radon kit can be purchased through http://www.littlebearengineering.ca/ to determine the level that secretly floats within the home.
