Archive for July, 2012

Friday, July 27, 2012 @ 02:07 PM
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Greenville, SC is on the Radon Hit List

South Carolina radon in water




 How is a Person Exposed to Radon in Water?


 What to Do About Waterborne Radon In Greenville, South Carolina 


Tuesday, July 3, 2012 @ 02:07 PM
posted by admin

Greenville Radon Abatement SystemsRadon is a gas with no odor or color. It is radioactive and is formed from radium decay. Radon gas is a harmful toxin that can become trapped inside homes and other buildings and accumulate to dangerous levels. Radon is a heavy substance, but it is still classified as a gas; some analysts consider it the number two overall lung health hazard in the United States.

When is Radon Abatement Necessary?

Radon abatement is a broad term for the processes used to reduce and ultimately remove radon gas from the interior of a structure. This is generally accomplished by utilizing fans and air pipes to depressurize the area beneath the slab; this equipment can even be used for soil suction outside the premises. SWAT Environmental specializes in testing houses in the Greenville area to determine their radon levels and installing radon abatement systems if they prove to be necessary.

Methods to reduce radon levels in homes that include crawlspaces usually involve first covering the dirt floor with specialized plastic sheets to minimize the amount of radon gas that can get into the house from the ground. At the same time, fans and vent pipes are utilized to draw the radon from beneath the sheets for proper disposal outside of the house. A form of soil suction called sub-membrane suction is then applied to the crawlspace. This is the most commonly used method to reduce the radon levels within the crawlspace of a home. However, SWAT Environmental’s radon abatement specialists will be able to determine which method or methods will work best in your house, whether it is built above a basement or a crawlspace.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency Guidelines on Radon Abatement

Houses that are found to contain elevated levels of radon gas reaching 4.0 pCi/l or higher should be mitigated to eliminate the toxic radon before it permanently harms the health of the home’s residents. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets the standards both for safe levels of radon gas and for the proper techniques and equipment used during the radon abatement process. Construction companies and radon abatement companies must comply with these requirements while working on a house. Radon testing should be performed periodically to eliminate the possibility that radon gas will eventually build to unsafe levels without the knowledge of the people living in the house.

Why is Radon Abatement Necessary?

The EPA reports that radon gas is the second leading cause of cancer; only tobacco use causes more cases each year. Radon ranks sixth on the list of causes of cancer deaths in general. Some cancer statistics show that radon gas is responsible for over 21,000 lung cancer fatalities on a yearly basis in the United States alone. Having SWAT Environmental’s specialists perform radon abatement as soon as it becomes necessary could potentially save many people’s lives, and could minimize the risk of a variety of other breathing-related health problems as well.