Radon in your home? Assess your risk

Often overlooked, radon is a major public health concern in Québec.

This naturally occurring gas is emitted from the ground and can accumulate silently inside buildings, exposing occupants to serious health risks.
Whether you’re buying, selling, or simply taking preventive measures, testing for radon is essential.

With reliable detection tools and proven mitigation techniques, you can take action to ensure a healthy and safe indoor environment.

Radon risk: Know where you stand

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that you can’t see, smell or taste. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, leading to about 16% of lung cancer deaths each year in Canada (nearly 3,000 deaths). High levels of Radon may be found in any enclosed space such as a home, warehouse, office building or school. The only way to find out how much radon is in a building is to test for it.

About 10% of buildings in Quebec will exhibit radon ratings above the Health Canada intervention threshold (200 becquerels/m³). The occurrence of radon in a given building is largely unpredictable. The only way to know is to have your building tested by professionals.

Our diagnostic solutions

Enviroc Groupe Fondasol can both test and fix radon issues. Our experts provide you with a professional evaluation of the radon related risk in your building.

Take care of it!

Learn more about radon: www.takeactiononradon.ca

Radon testing: a matter of due diligence

Our experts provide you with a professional evaluation of the radon related risk in your building.

When radon is released from the ground outside, it mixes with fresh air and gets diluted resulting in concentrations too low to be of concern.

However, when radon enters an enclosed space, such as any building, it can accumulate to high concentrations and become a serious health risk.

Radon gas can enter any place it finds an opening around the area where the building contacts the soil: cracks in foundation walls and in floor slabs, construction joints, gaps around service pipes and support posts, floor drains and sumps, cavities inside walls, and the water supply.

Radon can also be found in groundwater from private or small community wells. Radon produced in the ground can dissolve and accumulate in water from underground sources such as wells. When water containing radon is agitated during daily household use – showering, clothes washing or cooking, for example – the radon gas can be released into the air.

However, research has shown that drinking water that contains radon is far less harmful than breathing the gas. The health risk does not come from consuming the radon, but from inhaling the gas.

And in most cases, the risk of radon entering the home through water is much lower than if it enters through the ground. Materials used to construct a house – stones, bricks, cement, or granite, for example – are not a significant source of radon in Canada.

Managing radon risk

An effective solution: sub-slab depressurization

The presence of radon isn’t a fatality. In most cases, it simply involves installing a ventilation system to smartly evacuate the air from beneath the slab.

This method is called sub-slab depressurization, carried out by professionals like Groupe SOLROC, who bring together all the necessary expertise.

Early detection and removal of radon, using low-cost solutions, can help you avoid major issues down the road.