I’ve been hearing a lot about radon gas levels in homes (and the associated lung cancer risk). Is it as much of a concern in cottages?—Eva Davis, Winnipeg, Man.
It depends. Radon—colourless, odourless, and tasteless—is a radioactive gas. It occurs naturally from the normal breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water, and it’s only a problem when it accumulates in a building. As radon decays, it gives off radioactive particles. When you breathe them in, the particles can damage the cells in your lungs, increasing your risk of developing lung cancer.
“A lot of people think that radon is present in one area of Canada and not in others,” says Dustin Pearson, the scientific operations manager with Canada’s Evict Radon National Study research project. “But pretty much all areas of Canada have homes that are high in radon.” Or cottages that are high in radon. “We don’t make a distinction between cottages and homes because functionally, how cottages are built often replicates a residential environment,” says Pearson. Like most homes, most cottages have the ability to “draw” radon through their contact with the ground: typically a basement, a crawl space, or a slab-on-grade foundation.
If your cottage is on stilts, that could lower your risk of radon exposure, says Pearson. “But only if there’s nothing encapsulating the stilts. If that space under the cottage is enclosed—if you put siding around it, for example—you can still have high radon in that environment.”
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Another factor that could come into play? Your water supply. “If the property is fed by a groundwater well, the very fact that you have that well has the potential to increase your radon exposure,” says Pearson. “It has nothing to do with the water. It’s that there’s a hole going several hundred feet into the ground. It doesn’t guarantee higher radon levels, but it is associated with an increased risk. It’s a pathway for the underground radon to come up and saturate the soil.”
Gah! It’s like you can’t swing a cat without hitting a bunch of radon. But wait: radon’s impact is cumulative. What matters is the long-term exposure to it. “And it’s not just about your cottage, it’s about all the indoor environments where you spend your time,” says Pearson.
First step: get a test kit. The results will tell you whether or not you need to take further measures: hiring a mitigation specialist to advise you on how to reduce radon levels through structural modifications, for example. For info on tests and mitigation, visit takeactiononradon.ca.
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.
This article was originally published in the Summer 2026 issue of Cottage Life.
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