Radon Air Testing

Radon Testing Services

Welcome to First Look Home Inspection, where your safety is our utmost concern. We offer two comprehensive methods for Radon Gas testing to ensure your peace of mind:

Radon Double Vial Liquid Scintillation
Radon Continuous Monitor

Our commitment to your safety means that both of these tests provide you with a report, highlighting the radon levels within your home or building. In the event that further action is required, our reports also offer valuable recommendations. Notably, the Continuous Monitoring report is especially thorough, providing you with an in-depth understanding of your property’s radon levels.

Radon Double Vial Scintillation

Our Radon Double Vial Scintillation method, while not without limitations, offers a reliable and convenient way to test for radon in your property. We are committed to providing you with accurate results and ensuring your peace of mind throughout the process. Here’s how it works:

Setting Up the Test: Two radon test vials are strategically placed in your home or building, capturing air samples for 48 hours.

Convenient Sample Collection: Real estate agents or buyers can easily retrieve the vials and choose between mailing them or hand-delivering them to our state-of-the-art laboratory in Salem, NH.

Results Access: Access your results effortlessly through the labs user-friendly online platform. Simply follow the link provided in your inspection report under the “Environmental Testing” section or click here.

Total Test Duration: From setup to online result posting, the process typically takes 5-7 days. Please note that clients will exclusively receive their results online and can download the report for a hard copy.

Why Choose Double Vial Scintillation?

While the Double Vial Scintillation method offers several advantages, it’s essential to consider its limitations:

Advantages:

Accuracy: The laboratory will provide precise and reliable results.
User-Friendly: Access your results conveniently online.

Disadvantages:

Tampering Risk: Like any testing method, vials are susceptible to tampering. Windows or doors could be opened or vials brough outside.
Time Factor: Results typically take 5-7 days, considering sample collection and lab analysis.
Environmental Influences: Fluctuations in humidity can affect results.
Simplified Reporting: Results are presented as a single average radon reading, without detailed hourly variations or graphs.
Client Responsibility: Clients or their representatives are responsible for retrieving and shipping the vials to the lab.

Continuous Radon Monitor

At First Look Home Inspection, we offer cutting-edge Continuous Radon Monitoring services to ensure the utmost safety and accuracy in radon testing. This advanced method provides you with near immediate results, offering a level of convenience and reliability that is second to none. Here’s how it works:

Seamless Setup: The inspector installs a highly sensitive radon detection monitor within the property.

Continuous Monitoring: The monitor operates continuously for approximately 2 days, ensuring the most accurate and up-to-date readings.

Immediate Results: There’s no waiting involved. On the same day of pickup, our inspector will retrieve the radon detection monitor and promptly provide you with a comprehensive radon report via email and/or text message.

Advantages of Continuous Radon Monitors

When you choose Continuous Radon Monitoring with First Look Home Inspection, you benefit from a range of distinct advantages:

Real-Time Data: Our Continuous Radon Monitors provide the first result within the hour, allowing you to make informed decisions promptly.
Tamper-Resistant: These monitors are designed to detect any movement or tampering, ensuring the integrity of your results.
Swift Turnaround: With 48-hour monitoring and immediate reporting, you avoid delays and the risk of results getting lost in the mail.
Hourly Tracking: Gain valuable insights into hourly variations in radon levels, enabling a comprehensive understanding of your property’s safety.
Detailed Reporting: Your radon report is presented in a detailed format, including data, ranges, and informative graphs displaying radon levels each hour throughout the test.
Environmental Robustness: Continuous monitors are not affected by humidity changes, ensuring unbiased results.
Chain-of-Custody Assurance: Rest easy knowing that First Look handles every aspect of the test, from drop-off to pick-up. There’s no need for direct involvement from buyers or real estate agents in the radon testing process.

Massachusetts and New Hampshire homes are at higher risk of radon exposer

What is Radon?

Radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas. Radon comes from the breakdown of radioactive elements (such as uranium and thorium) in the ground as part of the natural radioactive decay process.

It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and chemically inert. Unless you test for it, there is no way of telling how much is present.

Radon typically enters a home through the lowest level, such as a basement or crawl space, but it can also enter through gaps in walls, floors, and pipes. Radon can also dissolve into well water and be released into the air when the water is used for showering or other household activities.

The pressure differential between the inside and outside of the building can also play a role in radon entry. For example, if the air pressure inside the home is lower than the air pressure outside, radon can be drawn into the home through any available opening.

Once radon enters a home, it can accumulate in the indoor air and pose a health risk to the occupants. Long-term exposure to high levels of radon gas can increase the risk of lung cancer. That’s why it’s important to test indoor air for radon and take action to reduce levels if necessary.
Even a home of building constructed on a concrete slab foundation is susceptible to radon gas exposure.

How Does Radon Cause Harm?

Radon has a half-life of about four days—half of a given quantity of it breaks down every four days. When radon undergoes radioactive decay, it emits ionizing radiation in the form of alpha particles. It also produces short-lived decay products, often called progeny or daughters, some of which are also radioactive.

Alpha particles cannot penetrate our epidermis, our outer layer of skin, but they can damage cells if ingested.

These progeny or daughters attach to dust or other airborne particles which when breathed in, stick to the tissues in our lunges. As the radiation decay process continues, more ionizing alpha particles are released within our lunges.

Sometimes, the term radon is used in a broad sense, referring to radon and its radioactive progeny all at once. When testing measures radiation from the progeny, rather than radon itself, the measurements are usually expressed in working level (WL) units. When radiation from radon is measured directly, the amount is usually expressed in picocuries per liter of air (pCi/L).

Massachusetts and New Hampshire homes are at higher risk of radon exposer.

https://www.epa.gov/radon

What If I Have Radon?

Radon tests the return a results of 4 PCi/L or greater should consult with a radon mitigation contractor to determine the best methods to reduce the amount of radon gas within the home.

Typically a ventilation system along with other air sealing methods are installed to remove radon gas from below the level of the foundation.

What is a PCi/L?

A pCi is a measure of the rate of radioactive decay of radon. One pCi is one trillionth of a Curie, 0.037 disintegrations per second, or 2.22 disintegrations per minute. Therefore, at 4 pCi/L (picocuries per liter, the EPA’s recommended action level), there will be approximately 12,672 radioactive disintegrations in one liter of air during a 24-hour period. Disintegrations per second (dps), also known as decays per second, represents the number of atoms of a radioactive isotope that decay per second.

What is Scintillation?

Scintillation is the phenomenon in which certain materials emit flashes of visible or ultraviolet light when they interact with ionizing radiation, such as alpha, beta, or gamma radiation. These brief bursts of light, known as scintillations, occur as a result of the energy absorbed from the incoming radiation being re-emitted in the form of photons. Scintillation detectors utilize this property to measure and detect ionizing radiation, making them essential tools in various fields, including radiation monitoring, nuclear physics research, medical imaging, and security applications