Radon in Chatham
Chatham sits on the Thames River in the middle of Chatham-Kent, a municipality of farmland, river towns and shoreline.
Chatham radon guide
Radon in Chatham-Kent
Radon testing and mitigation in Chatham-Kent
One large municipality of flat farmland, river towns and shoreline on Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, centred on Chatham on the Thames.
Radon in Chatham-Kent
Chatham-Kent is a single municipality that covers Chatham, Wallaceburg, Tilbury, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Dresden and Wheatley, plus the farmland and the Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair shorelines between them. In the Health Canada survey data that Cancer Care Ontario tabulated by public health unit, 18.4% of the homes tested here were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
What’s under the ground
Chatham-Kent is a flat plain of glacial lake clay and till, drained by ditches and tile and cut by the Thames and Sydenham rivers. Sandy beach ridges and spits mark the old lake shorelines, and Rondeau Bay sits behind one of them. Clay slows soil gas but cracks in dry summers, and the gravel under a slab and the trenches around a foundation can carry gas to the house.
The homes
Chatham has older brick homes near downtown and the Thames, post-war neighbourhoods, and newer subdivisions on its edges. Beyond the towns, much of the housing is farmhouses and rural properties, many on private wells, and cottages around Erieau and Rondeau that are being winterized for year-round living.
Public health: Chatham-Kent Public Health.
What the data says
18.4%
Of homes tested in the Chatham-Kent health unit area were at or above 200 Bq/m³ in the Health Canada survey data tabulated by Cancer Care Ontario (2009 to 2013).Source: Cancer Care Ontario — Risk of Residential Radon Exposure Varies Geographically (results by public health unit, Health Canada survey data 2009–2013)
1 in 8
Ontario homes at or above Health Canada’s 200 Bq/m³ guideline in the 2024 Cross-Canada Survey, more than double the share found a decade earlier.Source: Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Exposure in the Residential Buildings of Urban and Rural Communities (2024)
+30%
Higher average radon exposure for rural residents than urban residents in a 2024 national study of 42,051 homes, mostly linked to drilled wells.Source: Goodarzi et al., Scientific Reports (2024) — rural communities and drilled-well annuli
Local factors
Why Chatham-Kent homes should test
Clay plains
Dense clay slows soil gas, but it cracks in dry spells. Gas then follows the easiest route: the gravel backfill, weeping tile and utility trenches that lead straight to a basement.
Rural homes on drilled wells
A 2024 national study of over 42,000 homes found rural residents were exposed to about 30% more radon than urban residents, with most of the gap linked to drilled wells. Researchers suspect gas travels up the gap around the well casing.
Century homes
Fieldstone, rubble and early concrete foundations, earth-floor cellars and open sumps give radon many ways in. Older doesn’t mean safer: these homes still need a test.
Cottages and crawlspaces
Lakeshore cottages converted to year-round homes often sit on crawlspaces, piers or patched slabs. Once winterized and heated, they can start pulling in soil gas they never did as summer places.
New, airtight construction
Canadian research shows newer homes have tended to test higher than older ones. Bigger, taller and tighter homes create a stronger stack effect that draws soil gas in through the slab.
Communities
Where we work in Chatham-Kent
Questions
Radon in Chatham-Kent: common questions
Is radon common in Chatham-Kent?
The published figure is high. In Health Canada survey data tabulated by Cancer Care Ontario, 18.4% of the homes tested in Chatham-Kent were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. That is a survey of a limited number of homes, so it can’t tell you about yours. A 91-day test can.
Do you serve Wallaceburg, Tilbury and the rest of Chatham-Kent?
Yes. We test and mitigate across the whole municipality, including Wallaceburg, Tilbury, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Dresden, Wheatley, Erieau and Thamesville.
Book a radon test in Chatham-Kent
C-NRPP certified testing and mitigation across Chatham.