Radon In Your Home? Learning how to make our homes safer.
Updated: Jul 2, 2021
Canadians know more about Radon in their homes today, than ever before. Health Canada's Radon Awareness campaigns over the last few years, have reached a lot of people.
The Ontario building code has been amended to make our homes safer in relation to Radon in the recent years, and there has been mitigation grants announced to offset some of the costs to homeowners.
What have we learned? We need to test to discover the true exposure levels in our homes, and take action to reduce the levels. Believe it or not, it's a relatively simple process and not terribly expensive, and could even be free in some cases.
Whether our homes are old, or brand new, we are learning about new ways to make them safer.
Did you know?
Tarion Warranty program covers the cost of Radon mitigation for new construction in homes tested and found to be above Health Canada's exposure level guidelines.
So, for those who haven't heard, here are some of the basics on Radon, where to learn more about it and what can be done to make our homes safer.
WHAT IS RADON? Radon is a tasteless, odourless and invisible radioactive gas, resulting from decaying uranium in the soil under buildings.
Radon gas can enter your home through any point where it is in contact with the ground. As radon radioactively decays, alpha, beta and gamma particles can be released into the lungs, causing damage to the lung tissue and increasing a person’s chance of developing lung cancer.
This is staggering information and now that we all know the effects, we have the opportunity to take action.
For those of us living in newly constructed homes in Ontario: Radon levels above Health Canada guidance of 200 Becquerels/m3, can be considered warrantable under the Tarion Warranty program and claims can be submitted at any point during the warranty period. (up to 7 years)
Info on Tarion Home Warranty program and coverage for Radon Mitigation - "Click here" for a video from Tarion about your Warranty coverage for Radon.
...Or find a measurement professional here: https://c-nrpp.ca/find-a-professional/
More information from Take Action on Radon:
Take Action on Radon is a national initiative, funded by Health Canada, to bring together radon stakeholders and raise awareness on radon across Canada.
The current advisory team is made up of the Canadian Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (CARST), CAREX Canada, and the Canadian Cancer Society.
More information for Homeowners from CNRPP: https://c-nrpp.ca/homeowners/
The Canadian – National Radon Proficiency Program (C-NRPP) is a certification program that establishes guidelines, training and resources for the provision of radon services by professionals.
For more info on how we can help you: "https://www.cardinalandkeys.com/radon-testing" Best regards,
Phil
Owner and Home Inspector Philip Goldsmith is a Registered Home Inspector(RHI - OAHI), CP I- INterNACHI) is trained and certified in "Thermal imaging and Building Science"; New Construction Inspection (Tarion Warranty), Radon measurement (CNRPP Certified) and is a WETT Certified Inspector (Wood burning appliances).
Certified Member of CARST(Canadian Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists)Certified Radon Measurement Professional, C-NRPP (Canadian National Radon Proficiency Program) C-NRPP Certification ID: CRT-202109CARST MEMBERSHIP INFO:https://www.carst.ca/Sys/PublicProfile/49446885/1695927