Summary
An overview of radon risk in Canadian homes, why testing rates remain low, and a new free postal code tool from Homeowner.ca that helps Canadians quickly assess the risk in their area.
It’s invisible, odourless, and it’s lurking in an estimated one in five Canadian homes. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas, and it’s the leading cause of lung cancer among Canadians who have never smoked.
The alarming part? Only 12% of non-apartment households in Canada have ever tested for it.
What is radon, exactly?
Radon forms naturally when uranium in soil and rock breaks down. It seeps up through the ground and can accumulate indoors, particularly in basements and lower floors where ventilation is limited. At low levels outdoors it’s harmless, but trapped inside a home, prolonged exposure significantly raises the risk of lung cancer.
Canada’s safety guideline is 200 Bq/m³ (becquerels per cubic metre). An estimated one in five Canadian homes sits at or above that threshold, yet most homeowners have no idea whether theirs is one of them.
Testing rates are low and uneven
Testing varies significantly by province. New Brunswick leads at 19%, followed by Nova Scotia at 18% and Saskatchewan at 17%. British Columbia and Ontario sit at the bottom, at 7% and 10% respectively despite elevated radon levels being documented in every province and territory.
The gap between risk and awareness is what prompted Homeowner.ca to act.
A new free tool to check your risk by postal code
Homeowner.ca has launched the Radon Risk Lookup, a free tool that lets Canadians instantly check the radon risk in their area using just the first three characters of their postal code. It draws on federal and independent Canadian radon datasets to show the share of homes in a given area that have tested above the guideline.
“The science is solid, but the data is spread across federal reports, academic surveys, and provincial dashboards written for policy people, not the person who just wants to know whether their basement is a problem,” said Angela Nightingale, Senior Editor at Homeowner.ca. “We built the Radon Risk Lookup to translate all of that into one clear answer.”
No account is needed, and the tool is available now.
So what should you do?
If you’ve never tested your home for radon, experts say you should. A test kit costs less than a family dinner and can be ordered online or picked up at many hardware stores.
Long-term test kits (90 days or more) are considered the most accurate. If results come back above the guideline, the good news is that radon mitigation is straightforward, typically involving improved ventilation or a sub-slab depressurization system installed by a certified contractor.
The risk is real, the test is simple, and the fix is available. Checking your postal code is a reasonable place to start.
The Radon Risk Lookup is free and available at homeowner.ca/t/radon-risk-lookup.
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