If you’re wondering when you should test for radon, then you have likely heard of radon gas before. In short, radon is a radioactive gas produced from the natural decay of uranium found in all rocks and soils. Radon poses a particular risk to our health and is in fact the number one cause of lung cancer after smoking. It is colourless, odourless and tasteless, meaning you need special testing to detect it.
So, when is the best time to test for radon? As the radon experts at PropertECO, we are here to guide you through all you need to know about radon testing and mitigation.
Radon Levels Vary Over Time
Indoor radon levels vary over time and can change from hour to hour, day to day, and season to season. This variation is caused by lots of factors, including:
• Changes in temperature both outside and inside: We all know that warm air rises. If your building is significantly warmer than the temperature outside, it can cause what’s known as the ‘stack effect’. This is when the warm internal air rises through the building sucking in the cold air, and radon, from the ground.
• Changes in weather: Changing weather patterns can impact indoor air quality, the pressure in the atmosphere and the pressure in the soil underneath you – all of which can increase the possibility of radon entering your home.
• Indoor ventilation: Poor ventilation allows radon to accumulate indoors while insufficient airflow in basements and closed-off rooms can lead to higher radon levels.
• Soil composition: Buildings built on soil and rocks containing higher levels or uranium deposits are more likely to experience bigger radon spikes over time.
• Wear and tear of your building’s foundation: Radon can enter your home through cracks in the foundation, gaps around pipes and other openings.
When are Radon Levels the Highest?
Radon levels are the highest during the colder months, in heating season. Temperature fluctuations have the greatest impact on indoor radon levels due to the difference in pressure between the outside and inside, that results in radon being drawn indoors.
During the winter months, we tend to stay indoors, fireplace and radiators on with windows closed. But what this does is cause something called the ‘chimney’ or ‘stack effect’.
The chimney effect is a phenomenon where warm air inside a building rises and escapes through higher openings such as windows, chimneys, cracks and gaps. This upward movement of air creates a pressure difference, drawing cooler air into the building through the floor and lower openings. For example, you may have felt cold air coming through keyholes or from behind drafty skirting boards in the winter; it is the pressure difference between the inside and the outdoors causing this to happen. This process happens because warmer air is less dense, and so rises, whilst cooler air is denser and so is pulled in to replace the rising warm air.
As the cool air from below is pulled inside through your building’s foundation, radon can be pulled in too.
With buildings kept warm over winter, the stack effect explains why indoor radon levels are almost always higher in winter than in summer.
Why Test for Radon in the Winter?
Radon testing can be carried out at any time. In fact, a seasonal correction factor is applied by the laboratory to take into account the time of year the test was taken. However, autumn and winter are the optimum seasons to test in. Radon levels spike over the winter months, and as the UK’s notoriously chilly weather makes you keep your heating on and windows closed, this can make you particularly vulnerable to radon exposure. At PropertECO, we want to help you mitigate this risk, and so it’s important for us to know when and where the radon levels in your building increase the most. Testing in autumn or winter will enable us to take the most accurate reading and allow us to measure the risk at its highest level. This means that we can then provide a mitigation plan of action that can safeguard your exposure to radon even when at its peak.
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