Radon in Goderich
Goderich is the Huron County seat, on the Lake Huron bluffs at the mouth of the Maitland River, with an eight-sided town square that anchors a downtown of heritage brick.
Goderich radon guide
Radon in Huron-Perth
Radon testing and mitigation in Huron-Perth
Stratford’s Avon River heritage core, St. Marys and its limestone, and Goderich on the Lake Huron bluffs, with farm country in between.
Radon in Huron-Perth
Huron and Perth counties share one public health unit, Huron Perth Public Health, and a lot of the same farm country, from Goderich and the Lake Huron shore to Stratford, St. Marys, Mitchell, Seaforth and Listowel. In the Health Canada survey data that Cancer Care Ontario tabulated by public health unit, 12.0% of the homes tested in Perth were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. A local health unit report put the Huron County share at 11%.
What’s under the ground
The region is mostly glacial till plain and moraine, with sand and gravel along the Avon and Thames river valleys and the Maitland River cutting a deep valley to Lake Huron at Goderich. Limestone bedrock comes close to the surface around St. Marys. Till carries ground-up Canadian Shield rock, a source of uranium, and bedrock close to the surface can carry soil gas up through fractures.
The homes
Stratford and St. Marys have a large stock of 19th-century brick and limestone homes, many with stone foundations, and newer subdivisions on their edges. Goderich mixes heritage homes around the Square with lakeshore properties. Outside the towns, farmhouses on private wells are common, and a 2024 national study linked drilled wells to higher radon.
Public health: Huron Perth Public Health.
What the data says
12.0%
Of homes tested in the Perth 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)
11%
Of randomly selected homes tested in Huron County in 2012 were above the Canadian guideline, as reported from Huron County Health Unit testing.Source: Blackburn News — Many Huron County homes have high radon levels (2019), reporting Huron County Health Unit testing
+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 Huron-Perth homes should test
Glacial soils with Shield debris
The till and gravel left by glaciers here includes ground-up rock carried south from the Canadian Shield. Uranium travels with it, so radon can form close to your footings even where the bedrock itself is low in uranium.
Shallow or fractured bedrock
Where rock sits close to the surface, as on the Niagara Escarpment or the limestone plains near Lake Erie, joints and fractures can act as pipelines that carry soil gas toward foundations.
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.
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 Huron-Perth
Radon in Stratford
Stratford is a railway and theatre city on the Avon River, with a Victorian downtown, a big stock of brick homes, and farm country in every direction.
Stratford radon guide
Radon in St. Marys
St. Marys is known as the Stonetown, with a downtown and many homes built of the local limestone, on the Thames River between London and Stratford.
St. Marys radon guide
Questions
Radon in Huron-Perth: common questions
Is radon a problem in Stratford, St. Marys and Goderich?
It can be. In Health Canada survey data tabulated by Cancer Care Ontario, 12.0% of homes tested in Perth were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline, and a local health unit report put Huron County at 11%. Those numbers describe the counties, not your street. A 91-day test is the only way to know your own level.
Do you serve Mitchell, Seaforth, Listowel and Exeter?
Yes. We test and mitigate across Huron and Perth counties, including Goderich, Bayfield, Clinton, Exeter, Seaforth, Mitchell, Stratford, St. Marys and Listowel.
Book a radon test in Huron-Perth
C-NRPP certified testing and mitigation across Goderich, Stratford, St. Marys.