The allusion that seems to be made, that natural stone installed in your home is dangerous to your health is raised repeatedly on the website and in a recent local Houston TV news program.
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The allusion that seems to be made, that regular stone introduced in your house is perilous to your wellbeing is raised over and over on the site and in a new neighborhood Houston TV news program.
It's fascinating to take note that the two significant givers of this non-benefit association are producers of designed stone. One of those contributing makers has an advertising leader on the directorate of this specific association.
From what may be perceived on the surface as perhaps another "going green" ad campaign, seems to be a different slant on the ongoing battle of the engineered stone manufacturers against natural stone.
Remember that rock as does most normal parts found in building material, permits fumes to go through them that may contain follow measures of radon. There are very small amounts of uranium found in trace minerals such as biotite in some natural stones. When quarried if a large cluster of biotite is exposed the result initially would be a radon reading. However, once a piece of granite or natural stone exposed to a large amount of uranium-rich mineral in the ground is removed from the source and exposed to the air, the radon vapor transmission would weaken drastically and then dissipate. Simply put, think of natural stone as a very dense sponge that allows water, air, and yes radon to pass through the stone. Once the stone is removed from the source of radon (the earth) the stone has no radon to filter through it.
We do endorse Radon testing but to allude that natural stone is the main contributor seems ludicrous. If you need the help of radon testing, you can visit this site: https://www.radondenverco.com/radon-testing.html
Here are some facts about Radon:
WHERE DOES RADON COME FROM?
"Radon comes from the natural radioactive decay of radium and uranium found in the soil beneath the house. The amount of radon in the soil depends on complex soil chemistry, which varies from one house to the next. Radon levels in the soil range from a few hundred to several thousands of pCi/L. The amount of radon that escapes from the soil to enter the house depends on the weather, soil porosity, soil moisture, and the suction within the house".
HOW DOES RADON GET INTO THE HOUSE?
"Houses act like large chimneys. As the air in the house warms, it rises to leak out the attic openings and around the upper floor windows. This creates a small suction at the lowest level of the house, pulling the radon out of the soil and into the house. (Just as natural stone filters radon emission as mentioned before.) You can test this on a cold day by opening a top-floor window an inch. You will notice warm air from the house rushing out that opening; yet if you open a basement window an inch, you will feel the cold outside air rushing in. This suction is what pulls the radon out of the soil and into the house. You might think caulking the cracks and the openings in the basement floor will stop the radon from entering the house. However, scientific studies show, it only takes enough unsealed cracks or pinholes in the caulking to equal a hole 1/2" in diameter to let all the radon in.
Fortunately, there are other extremely effective means of keeping radon out of your home. Throughout the country, several million people have already been tested for radon. Some houses tested as high as 2,000-3,000 pCi/L; yet, there hasn't been one house that could not mitigate to an acceptable level. The difference about natural stone is that once the stone slab is removed from the source and exposed to the atmosphere the radon is vented in the same way ventilation of a house mitigates the radon emissions in the soil.
Levels of radiation from quantifiable stone items, are truth be told, little fragmentary upsides of set up edges for natural wellbeing. The truth of the matter is that granite is a safe product. It's been used for thousands of years and the relationship between granite and radon has been studied for years and years. How safe is granite? There have been mathematical models developed that show that one could live in an all-granite home or building, including sleeping on granite, for an entire year and still be within very safe levels of exposure.
Computations show that, if a normal ledge, traps a normal uranium centralization of four ppm (parts per million), the convergence of radon that is emitted by the ledge into the family air would be multiple times not exactly the degree of radon in the external air. The maximum contact level that you would receive over one year if you were to sit on a countertop all of the time would be about one-quarter of the annual radiation from all sources. If you were just a few inches away from the granite (such as when doing the dishes), the dose would be too low to measure.
In a more recent study that was conducted by L. L. Chyi, a Ph.D. and professor of Geochemistry and Environmental Geology at The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. Dr. Chyi studied 13 of the most popular granites used throughout the United States as determined by an industry-wide survey. Due to their popularity these 13 granites, are believed to represent up to 85% of the granite countertop market in recent years. The granite types are as follows:
1. New Venetian Gold, Brazil; medium-grained, yellow-beige gneiss with many dark red garnets
2. Uba Tuba, Brazil; A medium- to coarse-grained, olive-green granite
3. Santa Cecilia, Brazil; A coarse-grained, yellow-grey gneiss with up to pie-sized, red garnets
4. Tropic Brown, Saudi Arabia; medium-grained, brown granite
5. Absolute Black, India; black basalt
6. Tan Brown, India; A black-brown igneous rock with big, shapeless, brown-red feldspar crystals
7. Giallo Ornamental, Brazil; coarse-grained, brown-yellow granulite with some brown-red garnets
8. Crema Bordeaux, Brazil; Juparana Crema Bordeaux (Brunello). A coarse- to very coarse-grained, pink to red granite with areas of quartz, alkali feldspar, and quite a lot of ore
9. Baltic Brown, Finland; brown-black granite
10. Giallo Veneziano, Brazil; medium- to coarse-grained, ochre-yellow to golden-brown, also light pink, gneiss
11. Dakota Mahogany, USA; medium- to coarse-grained, brown-red granite
12. China Black, China, a fine-grained plutonic rock
13. Yellow Star, China, a medium-grained yellow to the pink granite
The testing methodology was designed to measure the amount of radon that each granite type would add to the interior of a 2,000 square foot, normally ventilated home with 8 ft ceilings. The results show that Crema Bordeaux (the most active in terms of radon emissions) would contribute a concentration component of less than 0.28 pCi/L or less than 7% of the EPA's recommended actionable level of 4.0 pCi/L. This radon amount is well below a level that might cause health concerns. Tropic Brown and Baltic Brown, second and third in radon emanation based upon Dr. Chyi's testing, amounted to only 1% of this action level. The other granites tested added almost immeasurable amounts of radon to the house. Radon atoms in pore spaces and fractures are of minimal concern in the case of granite countertops
Dr. Chyi's test results show that the granites that are currently found in the United States marketplace are insignificant contributors to radon levels in the home. "Based on the testing results and EPA standards, we can conclude that the most popular granites used as countertop surfaces pose no health threat to homeowners. If proper resealing is applied once a year or at other frequencies determined by the industry, the radon emanation can be further reduced".
While we feel that health safety is a great concern especially in our homes, for an industry to attempt to gain financially by "scare tactics" or under the auspices of "Eco friendly" is reprehensible. We urge the consumer to not be taken in by these alarmist tactics.
