Test Your Home For Radon This Month

Governor Bill Lee assigned January as Radon Action Month.

Putnam County EMA Tyler Smith said radon can sneak into your house without your knowledge.

“Radon is a radioactive gas that forms naturally. When uranium is broke down into metal, rock, and soil in the ground water it forms a gas. It’s most prevalent around caves,” Smith said. “If you don’t have floors where the basements have cracks in them you can get a lot higher levels of radon that way.”

The Upper Cumberland has high radon levels due to the amount of caves in the area. Smith said the easiest way to detect radon in your house is to purchase a radon test kit.

“The best way to prevent is getting test kits to where you can test that in your home or office, wherever you want to test. You can get those at Lowe’s or any other hardware store…you put those kits out for several days and then you send it off to get the level of radon that’s occurring,” Smith said.

Additional tips include providing more air space in your home so the gas doesn’t get trapped, Smith said.

“To take action to prevent it is to increase airflow within your home, opening windows [for] better ventilation to circulate the air. Seal cracks in the floors and the walls to prevent those gases from coming through,” Smith said.

People with radon poisoning experience breathing difficulties. Smith said radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, and the leading cause among non-smokers.

For more information visit the TN Department of Health’s website.