One in six Canadian homes have dangerously high concentrations. The good news? It’s easy to test your home and to mitigate it. While it’s recommended all houses be tested for radon, you may be wondering if your house should be excluded. Here are some scenarios that might make you question if you should (re)test yours.

We just moved in to our new home and the previous owners said they already tested for radon.

That’s great! Make sure to get a copy of the results for your record and ensure it says the radon level is below 200 Bq/m³. However, if you plan to renovate your new home, you’ll need to retest once they are all completed. 

My next-door neighbour tested their house and they were below 200 Bq/m³.

It’s still important to test your home for radon. Radon is a radioactive gas that comes up from the ground. Three factors are needed to incur hazardous radon exposure:

• Geologic source and pathway (upwards) for radon into a property
• Building metrics that actively draw up and concentrate radon
• Human behaviour that enables higher exposure

These factors can vary between houses—even if they are next to each other. Your neighbour’s radon level may be negligible, while the radon concentration in your home may be through the roof. 

My house has already been mitigated for radon.

Speaking of roofs, getting a new one is a good reason to retest your home—even if it has already been mitigated. Major renovations, such as replacing the roof or windows, developing a basement, installing new furnaces or air conditioning units, installing or removing fireplaces, installing or removing fans, installing or exchanging building insulation, and other major changes that may impact how air is leaving, entering or being retained in the property can alter the concentration of radon in your home. Of course, it’s also to vital you test your radon levels right after mitigating to ensure they have decreased and are below Health Canada’s 200 Bq/m3 recommendation.

Already tested your home post mitigation and don’t have any major renovations planned for the foreseeable future? It’s recommended all homes be retested for radon every five years. 

Ready to (re)test your home? By using one of our non-profit, research-grade radon test kits and enrolling in our university-based research, you are helping Evict Radon aligned researchers from across Canada to understand radon exposure and develop new ways to protect ourselves and loved ones. Click the yellow “Purchase my test” button at the top of the page to order yours.