Welcome to another post in our series on radon awareness and radon remediation as part of the EPA's National Radon Action Month! If you haven't already, please have a look at our other posts in this series: Radon Testing In Your Home, Radon Symptoms to Watch For, and our introductory National Radon Action Month post.
This post is here to help you to spread the word about the importance of radon testing and radon remediation in not only your household, but your community. The more people that are made aware of this important issue, the safer and healthier our home air and families can be.
Feel free to use this banner on your website or blog. (just right-click and select "save image as...") There are a variety to choose from on the Radon Action Month website as well if you scroll toward the bottom of that website.
The EPA Radon Action Month website gives you five great ideas to start with for raising radon awareness and safety in your community:
-
Set a goal for your community
-
Plan an event or activity in your community for radon awareness
-
Promote it on the National Radon Action Month website
-
Collaborate with your local radon partners and other resources
-
Work with the media to spread the word
To get some of these tips in motion, the site has provided a great Event Planning Kit to help you on your way to planning a radon awareness and prevention event. That webpage also has numerous resources to help you along, like a radon fact sheet, tips for media outreach and web communication, and more. You can also download and customize Radon Action Month PSAs or have your activity featured on the National Radon Action Month website.
Upon seeing these great tips, we at HomeAire decided we'd try to come up with a few of our own:
Continue reading "Radon Remediation in Your Community" »
Posted by HomeAire Blogging Team
Posted Date: January 24, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Tags: epa, epa radon, national radon action month, radon community resources, radon remediation, radon resources, radon symptoms, radon testing, testing your home for radon
Filled under: Radon Testing and Awareness
Like this post: 
| 
| 
| 
Comments (0) TrackBack (0)
Testing your home for radon is simple, inexpensive, and can save your life. Home radon test kits are available for purchase, or, if you feel more comfortable hiring a professional to help you, you can contact your state radon office. Hopefully you've been following us on our journey through Radon Action Month so far here at the HomeAire blog. If not, be sure to read our previous entries on an overview of the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to spread radon risk awareness and the important symptoms to watch for in your home.
For less than a family dinner, you can purchase a radon test kit for your home. How does it work? Read on to find out.
Continue reading "Radon Testing In Your Home" »
Posted by HomeAire Blogging Team
Posted Date: January 17, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Tags: dangerous radon level, home air, home aire, home radon levels, homeaire, homeaire blog, how to test for radon, indoor air quality, radon, radon action month, radon fan, radon in home, radon test kit, radon testing kit
Filled under: Radon Testing and Awareness
Like this post: | | | Comments (0) TrackBack (0)
Do you have Sick Building Syndrome? Do you work or live in a 'sick building'? How would you know? Many of us might come home after a long day at work with a headache, or feel a little dizzy after sitting for awhile at a computer. Others might complain of eye strain from fluorescent lights or stuffiness because of a warm or crowded office; but the truth of the matter is these symptoms and far worse can be caused by the physical infrastructure and upholstery of the building you work in. Countless people are going about their daily lives at work feeling sick, thinking it's just stress or another factor in their lives, when in actuality it's a serious condition known as sick building syndrome. The name of this disease certainly doesn't sound very scientific, but it's very real and a serious health hazard that shouldn't be taken lightly.
What are the symptoms of sick building syndrome? If you suspect you or a coworker is experiencing sick building syndrome, here are some symptoms to watch out for.
Continue reading "Sick Building Syndrome - Is Your Workplace Making you Sick?" »
Posted by HomeAire Blogging Team
Posted Date: at 12:55 PM
Tags: building causing illness, building making you sick, feeling sick at work, hazardous work environment, home air, home aire, homeaire, homeaire blog, illness at work, indoor air quality, indoor air quality health problems, sick building syndrome, sick building syndrome causes, sick building syndrome symptoms, sick building syndrome treatment, sickness from indoor air, symptoms of sick building syndrome, unhealthy office air, work causing illness
Filled under: Indoor Air Quality and Allergy
Like this post: | | | Comments (0) TrackBack (0)
This entry in our January is Radon Action Month series discusses the symptoms of radon poisoning and how to know whether to suspect a radon leak in your home. This was a bit of a trick headline because, in actuality, radon has no early warning signs. Unlike other chemical leaks in the home, radon doesn't offer its sufferers any noticeable symptoms that would help alert them to get a testing kit or see a doctor. It is completely odorless, colorless, and flavorless. This makes it particularly dangerous and important to test your home for radon to ensure that you and your family are not at risk. This entry will help you find ways to get help for your home and your health.
Continue reading "Radon Symptoms to Watch For" »
Posted by HomeAire Blogging Team
Posted Date: January 10, 2008 at 12:25 PM
Tags: accustar, accustar radon test kit, home aire blog, homeaire blog, indoor air quality, indoor air quality blog, lung cancer symptoms, radon action month, radon awareness, radon blog, radon detector, radon lung cancer, radon poisoning, radon poisoning symptoms, radon prevention, radon symptoms, radon test kit, radon testing, radon testing kit, testing your home for radon
Filled under: Radon Testing and Awareness
Like this post: | | | Comments (0) TrackBack (2)
2008 is now upon us and it couldn't be a better time to take the necessary steps to make your home a healthier place. Many people are setting resolutions to lose weight, eat healthier, be kinder to the environment or give more to charity. With great goals like these, chances are, your resolution list doesn't contain the item "check home for radon", but it should! January is National Radon Action Month, and we're excited to be able to share some information with you to help make your home air safer to breathe, and to put your mind at ease in the coming year. Throughout the month, we'll be publishing posts to this blog surrounding different radon topics to help spread the word about the importance of radon testing in your home.
Radon testing is a topic that doesn't get as much widespread coverage as it should. By now, most everyone has heard about the dangers of carbon monoxide, and many buildings are required to have at least one carbon monoxide detector to warn of hazardous conditions and prevent illness and death. However, it's much less common to hear about radon testing kits, and many people aren't even aware of what radon is, how it affects our health, and what we can do about it. In actuality, radon is quite common and should be monitored just as carbon monoxide is. Thankfully, with the establishment of Radon Action Month, more and more people are being empowered with the information needed to take control of their home air safety and, ultimately, their health.
The Bad News: Radon is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas which easily goes undetected until it's too late. This 'silent killer' claims approximately 20,000 lives each year in the United States alone, and is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency Radon site. If more people were made aware of the simple ways they can assess whether there's radon existing in their home, and the ways to eliminate it completely, this number could drop drastically.
The good news: radon is a completely preventable health risk. Testing is simple and inexpensive. Treatment is readily available and can eliminate radon problems in your home indefinitely!
In the coming weeks, you will be armed with a wealth of radon information, from testing kits to symptoms, community programs to treatment and prevention. All we ask is that you put your health first, and spread the word about proper radon care to your neighbors and friends. The more people that can be made aware of the dangers of radon, the more we can help prevent further lives from being taken by this hazardous, invisible toxin.
Until our next entry, feel free to check out the EPA's radon website to learn more about radon and how you can help.
Posted by HomeAire Blogging Team
Posted Date: January 4, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Tags: carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide detector, clearing the air, home air, home aire, home aire blog, home radon, homeaire, homeaire blog, indoor air quality, january is radon action month, new year's resolution, preventing radon, radon action month, radon awareness, radon dangers, radon gas, radon hazard, radon health effetcs, radon in the home, radon prevention, radon symptoms, radon testing, radon testing kit, radon treatment
Filled under: Radon Testing and Awareness
Like this post: | | | Comments (0) TrackBack (0)
It's a common misconception that people begin ‘waking up stuffy' in the winter because of the change in the seasons, the dry, cold air, or because they must be just getting that ‘wintery stuffiness' that always seems to happen. If you've ever woken up with half of your nose plugged up for no apparent reason, you're going to want to read the rest of this post.
Get ready for some not so appetizing facts. The reason you've been sniffing in the morning is because of mold, fungus, and dust mites in your pillow and sheets. A pillow study conducted by the University of Manchester, England, observed up to 16 different types of fungi in assorted pillows that they sampled. How does this happen? A doctor associated with the university study says that we sweat over 100 liters while we're sleeping each year. That, of course, is absorbed into our beds - our sheets, our blankets, our mattresses, our pillows. We also slough off a lot of dead skin cells, which are like candy for dust mites and fungus. As the fungi grow, the dust mites consume that, and then create fecal matter which is actually what sensitive sleepers are allergic to, not the mites themselves. Your pillow can accumulate 2 pounds of dust mite feces over a 2 year period, according to allergybuyersclub.com. The fungus could also lead to chronic sinusitis or other dangerous conditions.
To make matters worse, most people wouldn't even think to throw a pillow in the wash on a regular basis, or to vacuum a mattress, so the colonies just grow and grow. Any kind of moisture provides a breeding ground for fungi, bacteria and mites. Only some people are particularly sensitive to these particles, so you may not be bothered at all, but if the thought of microscopic creepy crawlies sends shivers down your spine, thankfully there are things you can do to get control of this situation.
Continue reading "Waking up Stuffy? Check your Pillow" »
Posted by HomeAire Blogging Team
Posted Date: January 2, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Tags: dust mite allergies, dust mite allergy, dust mites, homeaire, homeaire blog, how to clean your mattress, how to get rid of dust mites, hypoallergenic bedding, kill dust mites, pillow fungus, pillow mold, protective bed covers, waking up stuffy
Filled under: Indoor Air Quality and Allergy
Like this post: | | | Comments (0) TrackBack (4)
