Radon in Canadian schools and daycares test the rooms children use
Children spend the heating season in classrooms, not on the roof. Health Canada’s guideline of 200 Bq/m³ applies to normally occupied areas of a building. A single detector in the main office does not clear a ground-floor classroom, a daycare nap room or a gym built on a slab.
The useful test runs about 91 days while the building is closed and heated, which is the school year itself. A weekend in July with the windows open under-reads the exposure. Portable continuous monitors moved every two days answer a different question than a passive detector left for the term.
Who acts
The school board or the daycare operator controls the building. A parent can ask for the report. The same physics as a house applies if the number is high: suction under the slab, exhaust above the roof, then a retest. Workplaces are covered in radon at work. The threshold is explained in above 200.
Homes still come first for a family
A child who is fine at school can still sleep in a basement bedroom at home. That room is the other test. Where to place it.
The 4-day test is a first reading. The 91-day test is the length Health Canada uses to judge a heating season. Both are $59 before tax. Shipping, the prepaid return and the lab are included. Tax is extra. The PDF report is emailed within 2 business days after the lab receives the detector.
Above 200 Bq/m³, the fix is a fan that pulls soil gas from under the slab and exhausts it above the roof. Gaz Radon is C-NRPP certified for testing and for mitigation, and ships kits across Canada. Start from the Canada test page.
Sources
