So you think your home is safe ?

Hi everybody,

Your home is your castle, we are told, but what happens when the defences are down ?

"Many homes fall short of the basic requirements of a healthy home and contain several hazards that adversely affect human health," explains Rebecca Morley, executive director at the National Centre for Healthy Housing (www.nchh.org). "Scientific research shows that housing-related hazards such as mould, toxic materials such as lead and asbestos, and poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide and radon, pose a broad spectrum of risks." The good news? By doing certain things, we can cut these risks. "The widely recognised ‘Seven Principles of Healthy Homes' are that a home is dry, clean, pest-free, safe, contaminant-free, ventilated, and maintained," adds Rebecca.

I actually didn't read the article opening blurb, I went straight to this....

Radon awareness

Most people know how deadly carbon monoxide can be, but fewer people are aware of the risks posed by radon, which is formed by the radioactive decay of the small amounts of uranium that occur naturally in all rocks and soils. "Two of the most dangerous hazards in the home are radon gas and carbon monoxide, warns Rebecca Morley. "They're both invisible to the human eye and since they have no smell or taste, most people ignore them until it's too late." "Radon can appear in any type of home - old or new," says Rebecca. "Radon is rated as one of the top environmental risks and the leading environmental cause of cancer. It's the top cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, causing about 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year." For this reason, a careless attitude to DIY could well spell disaster. By sealing floors and walls, increasing under floor ventilation and installing what's known as a radon sump, we can reduce the radon in our homes. Visit www.ukradon.org for more information.

Scary !!!!

Here is a Link to full Article.

Hopefully some of you may find this article of interest, personally for me, I wasn't aware of some of these, thus undrgoing a little jump of enlightenment.

With all of this being a clear and present danger to our personal health and wellbeing, it makes me feel a little less guilty, about not following all the "faddy" health advice, as this illustrates just how much we are manipulated and led into thinking "We are in control of our bodies health !"

Bottom line.....I don't think we are !

People have known about Radon for a long time now. Its really only a problem if you have a basement with a stone foundation instead of concrete. Usually its just older homes.

Both Stone and concrete foundations release Radon.

The largest culprit in homes is the Dry wall, or sheet rock, most homes have as the interior walls.

Properly sealing during the construction phase can limit the exposure, however, most painting contractors skip this step.

This important step is Skipped not only for financial purposes, but few painting contractors understand the importance of “drywall sealer”. They view this step as unnecessary and redundant.

The truth is that this is the most important step in new drywall installation.

Most people think that a couple of coats of paint s all that is needed to “finish” drywall installation.

The use of latex paint allows the wall to “breath”, which the Radon gases will simply pass through latex paint.

If one uses an oil based paint instead of latex this offers more protection.

Here are the proper steps for painting new drywall:

Screen sand drywall compound joints smooth.

Dust walls to remove excess drywall compound particles.

Seal drywall using a high grade drywall sealer.

Wait at least 48 hours for sealer to “cure”

Primer coat drywall with high quality drywall primer.

(Sealer and Primer are two different products)
(Primer can be tinted to approximate finish color)

Wait at least 24 hours for primer to “cure”

Paint wall using a high quality INTERIOR coating.

Wait 72 hours for this paint coat to “cure”

Paint wall a second time using the same paint as the first coat.

It is best if one can wait 7 days between each coating process, however this is not possible in every case.

The “cure” times given are the minimum wait time between coatings.

Even if the wall feels dry, that does not mean that the coating has “cured”.

So it is : sand, dust, sealer, primer, two top coats.

Most painting contractors only primer and 1 top coat.

You get what you pay for.

I left out the single biggest tip from my response.

That is only purchase drywall manufactured in the United States.

Never, ever purchase imported drywall.

A few years back hundreds of homes had to have all the drywall removed and replaced because the Chinese manufacture drywall was releasing so much Radon it was an EPA incident.

The homeowners had the pleasure of purchasing drywall for their homes twice along with the cost of removal.

US manufactured products are made at a much higher quality than any imported product.

You get what you pay for.

You can easily get a radon kit and have your house tested. Its easy, and you mail it in. Some local health departments give them away for free.

BUT

a lot of people choose not to do this because it makes your house value sink like a rock.

Here in the UK, Radon has been found mainly where there is granite in the rocks beneath your house; and it is Cornwall that has been found to be the highest amount of Radon.

And that's without any drywall problem.

What is interesting is that the Cornish seem to have a natural defence against Radon, no one knows how.