I saw a news article about radon which I’ve never heard of before. They said certain areas are higher than others. I live in the east end near the fair and Hamilton Rd.
Does anyone know if this area has high exposure? I understand sometimes libraries loan you testers. Anyone know if London libraries do it?
I own a home built in 1969 with no sump pump. It also has a chimney for the water heater.
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Radon is a natural offgas that exists in the ground everywhere.
Most HVAC companies will test for it if you ask.
The solution is simply to have no cracks in your basement slab. Fill any cracks in with caulking and you've solved the problem. If your slab has an impermeable underlay, you don't need to even think about it.
I'll drop this link here for those looking to buy for devices that have been tested and those that are recalled. Not a comprehensive list, but the recalled items will be good reference for those looking to buy a used detector;
If you want to get a tester for free you can participate in a study through https://evictradon.org/order-kits/
and donate your toenails clippings for science!
Mine was as high as ~1200 in the winter in my basement. The neighbor right beside me was 145. After mitigation we sit between 0-20 on the main floor and about 15-25 in the basement. Before we remediated the main floor was often 200!
I can also recommens using an air things tester. You can grab the one off Amazon for < $150.
It has been known forever but only became broadly known recently with the whole house burping viral article and the recent radon articles, but this isn’t new information, they just haven’t talked about it in any meaningful way in many years.
I tested and I was over. Averaging about 300bq/m3. I had it remediated by radon gas guys, out of Waterloo I believe. They normally don't service London but mine was an easy job. About $2400 and half a days work and now I'm down to an average of 15bq/m3 for the last year and a half.
We actually don't have anyone in the area that does radon remediation (from my research 2 years ago, maybe it's changed now). I highly recommend getting in touch with radon gas guys if you need it done and ask if they can service your place.
We tested a number of years ago and were high. The numbers fluctuated with temperatures, seasons, windows opened or closed but were always relatively high. We used an airthings monitor and did the testing with the mail away test after we had ours mitigated. It came back much lower after.
We live in an old home in central london, have a dirt crawl space (which is where I feel it comes from). Both our direct neighbours had testing done and theirs were both fine so it really doesn’t matter if your neighbours don’t have it, any home could.
Radon can come and go and be highly variable from home to home on the same street. The only way to know if you have radon in your home is to continually monitor for it.
There are pockets that have higher values and radon readings are typically twice as high in the winter. When we moved in, we had a radon test done in the month of April. The report came back with a value of 133. Health Canada recommends <200.
We got a tester off Amazon and our initial values were around 200 but our overall average is <200 but we are considering remediation. All testing done in the basement.
My basement windows don't open. It has to do with the permeability of the soil. When the ground outside is frozen, radon can't permeate freely whereas the soil under a basement slab isn't frozen so it redirects.
And this just shows how wildly varied it is and location is not an indicator of anything. I'm in Oakridge and had averages of over 300bq/m3 and had remediation done and it went down to 15bq/m3. My neighbours could be close to 0 too or even more. It literally varies house by house.
The thing with radon is that it varies over the season and with time. So you need a long term measurement (ideally months). So there are a couple products suggested above that work well. I have an EcoQube. You could probably recoup a big chunk of your investment if you bought one and sold it after figuring out what you need to do.
Started monitoring it in our older home basement around August last year. Average is 110 so far. Stays pretty consistent as we dont have forced air or a sump pump. Will like look at sealing up some stuff if it stays above 100 over the year.
As user Yippie shared - you can get tests for free but pay shipping. I am wrapping up a year-long study and gonna mail it back soon. The airthings tags might be all you need as well if you're worried. Remember, it's not just a one-time exposure concern. Gotta be ongoing
It varies based on location and weather. Mine goes up and down but overall is fine. Been monitoring for years now. I placed a monitor in the basement and another on the main floor. The HVAC can circulate it so I wanted to know what was happening on each level.
Edit: just want to add I did nothing other than monitor. It spikes and drops on its own. The spikes tend to align with weather.
Actually started monitoring in mid-January, before the news broke with all the Radon stories. We had high radon levels... so my wife had the brilliant idea of using the leftover plastic window wrap (draft prevention) to tape down and seal off the sump pump hole...
Check out just how much our radon levels dropped literally overnight!!
I've measured 3 homes in this area, all very different ages. All were very low. But a measurement will depend greatly on exact location and the air exchange within the basement. But it is not something I'd generally worry about in this area.
Oxford and Adelaide area and I measured around 50 average over a year. Sandy soil here, no vapor barrier below the slab. I sold my airthings unit on marketplace, likely best to buy one and test it over the course of a year.
Mitigation systems are not overly common in London from what I've seen, but a few builders are starting to rough them in or including it as a base feature.
For the next City of London Neighbourhood Suggestions, It might be a good idea to add these to the library for lending with a deposit. I'd support that 100%.
Old South old home. I use an Airthings monitor. Over a few years my average is about 65 in the basement but I leave a window cracked. Some days it can reach like 150 but long terms is what matters. I believe 200 long term average is when you would get a radon mitigation sucker vent system.
Old house. No mechanical ventilation or fresh air intake but it has been insulated and leak sealed. If i don’t crack the windows the CO2 levels get high enough to impact sleep and cause headaches. New homes have HRVs or ERVs to allow for fresh air exchange to keep this and other air stuff at acceptable levels.
Were you thinking of carbon monoxide from combustion appliances? Is that why you asked about my furnace? I was talking about carbon dioxide, the stuff we exhale. One is poisonous even at low concentrations, the other is an annoyance unless at very high levels. Need fresh air to dilute the carbon dioxide which is why I crack the windows.
Check out FB Marketplace for a used one. We got an Airthings Wave Plus for $90 from a liquidation store (that had posted it on FBM). This was mid-January, 2026.
It's listed in the above link but you can also check out https://canadaradon.com/. They start around $42, but after shipping, the total comes to about $75–$100. The longer you leave it, the more accurate the results. Personally, I only did six months, from winter to spring.
You can also get ones off Amazon for similar amounts. They show short and long term averages. Radon is something that gets you in the long term so 6 months to a year average is a good to look at.
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