A $70 test kit and three months of patience will tell you more about your basement than any news story or neighbour’s result. That matters because radon in Winnipeg is common enough to take seriously: in the 2024 Cross-Canada Survey, 37.4% of the Winnipeg homes that were tested came in at or above the Canadian guideline.
That doesn’t mean your house is one of them. It means nobody knows until you test, and testing is the cheap part.
Below: how common radon is here, how to test properly through a Winnipeg winter, what local installers advertise for a fix, and the money help Manitobans can apply for.
What radon is, and the one number that matters
Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from uranium breaking down in soil and rock. You can’t see it or smell it. It seeps into houses through cracks in the slab, floor drains, sump pits and gaps around pipes, and it tends to build up in the lowest level.
Health Canada states the risk plainly: radon exposure is the number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, and the second for smokers. It estimates 16% of lung cancers come from radon, more than 3,000 deaths in Canada each year. That’s the whole health case, and it doesn’t need dressing up.
Radon is measured in becquerels per cubic metre (Bq/m3). The Canadian guideline is 200 Bq/m3, about 5.4 pCi/L if you’re comparing with an American report. Two things about that number trip people up.
First, it’s an average over a year, in the part of the house you actually use. Health Canada means a space somebody is in for 4 or more hours a day, like a finished basement, a basement bedroom or a suite. A crawl space, an unfinished storage area, the furnace room or the laundry room doesn’t count.
Second, it’s a guideline, not a law. Nothing in Manitoba requires a homeowner to test or to fix. Above 200, Health Canada recommends corrective action within a year. Below 200, it says there is “no level that is considered risk free”, so a result just under the line is a judgment call, not an all-clear.
If you don’t have a result yet, test first. Call (204) 555-0173 and we’ll walk you through a long-term test, or put you in touch with a C-NRPP certified measurement professional if you’d rather have one placed for you. You can also send us a note.
How common is radon in Winnipeg homes?
Two national surveys have measured Winnipeg homes. They sampled different houses in different ways, so don’t read them side by side as a trend.
- In the 2024 Cross-Canada Survey (Evict Radon, with Health Canada), roughly 400 to 499 Winnipeg properties were tested. Of those, 37.4% were at or above 200 Bq/m3. The average (a geometric mean) was 139.7 Bq/m3, and the highest Winnipeg reading was 1,362 Bq/m3.
- In Health Canada’s 2012 survey, 12.1% of 66 homes tested in the Winnipeg health region were above 200.
The 2024 figures are unweighted. They come from households that chose to test, not a random draw of the city, and the report says there isn’t enough information to weight them. Still, it names Winnipeg, along with Regina and Brandon, among the cities where a quarter to half of tested homes are high. For Manitoba and Saskatchewan together it says approximately 1 in 3. Nationally the figure is 17.8%, about 1 in 5.
The report’s bluntest line is that there are no areas of Canada that are “radon-free”. What none of these numbers can tell you is your house. Two homes on the same crescent can test very differently, because it comes down to the soil under the slab, the openings in it and how the house draws air.
Radon testing in Winnipeg: start with a long-term test
Health Canada’s method is simple and a bit slow, which is the point. Radon levels move around with the weather, the season and how the house is run, so a short reading can land high or low by chance.
Here’s what a proper test looks like:
- Run it for at least 3 months. Health Canada’s minimum is 91 days, and 3 to 12 months is ideal.
- Do it in the heating season, when the house is closed up.
- Put it on the lowest level someone uses: the basement bedroom, the rec room, the suite.
- Place it in the breathing zone, at least 30 cm above the floor and 30 cm from any wall, away from the sump, vents, windows and heat sources.
- If the test came in under 91 days, repeat it.
A long-term kit is the cheap part. HomeRadonTest.ca sells one for $70.00 before tax, and the Government of Manitoba puts kits generally between $50 and $100. Our radon testing page covers the options, and we compare the two main approaches in long-term vs short-term radon tests.
The library monitor
Winnipeg Public Library lends digital radon screening monitors free at every branch, from 1 November to 30 April, on a three-week loan. It’s a good way to get a first look without spending anything.
It’s a screening, though. Three weeks is well short of 91 days, and Health Canada treats short-term tests and digital monitors as screening tools. If you want to use a digital monitor for a proper long-term test, it should be one on C-NRPP’s approved list.
Picture a family in a Transcona split-level borrowing a library monitor in January. It sits in the basement rec room where the kids watch TV, and after a few days it’s showing numbers over 200. The sensible next step isn’t a contractor. It’s a long-term detector in that same room, 30 cm off the floor, left for 91 days or more. If that confirms a result over 200, they have most of a year under Health Canada’s guidance to get quotes and have a system put in, and they’ll be deciding on real data.
Some Winnipeg firms offer a quick look too. One advertises a free 15-minute screening test; another charges $50 for an in-person consultation. A 15-minute screen is not a long-term test. We found no advertised Prairie price for a professionally placed 91-day test, so ask a certified measurement professional to quote it.
Radon mitigation in Winnipeg: how a fix works
The standard fix is sub-slab depressurization, also called active soil depressurization. A certified installer runs a pipe through the basement slab, a fan draws soil gas from under the floor, and the pipe discharges it outside. Any sump pit has to be sealed, or the system just pulls basement air through it. You retest afterwards to confirm the result.
Health Canada recommends a C-NRPP certified mitigation professional for the work. C-NRPP, the Canadian National Radon Proficiency Program, is run by CARST with Health Canada oversight. It’s voluntary: no province regulates radon professionals, so certification is something you check yourself. Measurement and mitigation are separate certifications, and you can look anyone up in the C-NRPP professional directory.
Opening windows or running a fan in the basement is not a fix. The radon mitigation page explains what a proper system involves and what to ask before you sign.
A 2015 house with a capped rough-in
Manitoba put the National Building Code radon rough-in into force on 1 April 2011, and the 2020 codes have applied since 1 January 2024. So a Winnipeg house built in, say, 2015 likely has a rough-in: commonly a 100 mm pipe below the basement floor, sealed and labelled.
Owners sometimes assume that pipe is protecting them. It isn’t. The code wording is that “the depressurization rough-in does not actively reduce radon levels”. Until someone connects a pipe and fan to it, it’s just a capped stub. The house still needs a long-term test.
If the test comes back over 200, the rough-in may give the installer a starting point, but that depends on where it is. A 2013 study of Winnipeg Parade of Homes houses found rough-ins in all but one, and “almost half are in inaccessible locations”. A professional has to look before anyone can say whether it helps. More on that in radon rough-ins in new homes.
A 1962 bungalow with a basement bedroom
Take a 1962 bungalow in St. Vital where the teenager sleeps in a finished basement bedroom. The owners set a long-term detector on the dresser in November, well off the floor and away from the wall, and send it in after the heating season. It comes back over 200.
Now the numbers get practical. Winnipeg installers advertise systems from about $1,500 to $3,000. One adds 20% for off-season installs between 30 November and 20 May, so the timing of the job can move the price. A finished basement, a sump pit that needs sealing and the route the pipe has to take all affect the quote, and only a site visit settles it. Once the system is in, they retest in the same bedroom.
What radon mitigation costs in Winnipeg
These are advertised and published figures, attributed to where they came from. None of them is our quote, and prices exclude tax unless noted.
| Item | Figure (CAD) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Long-term test kit | $70.00 before tax | HomeRadonTest.ca |
| Test kits in general | $50 to $100 | Government of Manitoba |
| Library screening monitor | Free, three-week loan, 1 Nov to 30 Apr | Winnipeg Public Library |
| Short screening visit | Free, 15 minutes | One Winnipeg firm |
| In-person consultation | $50 | One Winnipeg firm |
| Mitigation system | About $1,500 to $3,000 | Winnipeg installers’ advertised prices |
| Mitigation system (comparison) | $2,500 to $3,500 | A Regina installer |
| Mitigation system | $2,000 to $3,000 | Health Canada, national, 2014 |
| Fan replacement | $200 to $300 | Health Canada, national, 2014 |
| Fan electricity | About $50 to $75 a year | Health Canada, national, 2014 |
The Regina installer notes that crawl spaces or multiple suction points can push a job higher, and that holds for any house. The fan figures are national and dated, so treat them as a rough guide if an older system gets noisy.
If you have a result over 200, call (204) 555-0173 and we’ll put you in touch with a C-NRPP certified mitigation professional who can look at the house and quote it. Or use the contact form.
Help paying for radon mitigation in Manitoba
Two programmes are worth knowing about before you get quotes, because both require C-NRPP and one won’t pay for work already done.
The Canadian Lung Association’s Lungs Matter programme offers up to $1,500 to low- and moderate-income households, meaning income below the provincial median. You need a 90-day-plus test by a C-NRPP professional showing over 200, and a quote from a C-NRPP professional. It doesn’t cover work already finished, and funding is limited. In Manitoba it runs through the Manitoba Lung Association, which calls it the only radon mitigation grant programme offered in the province. A lung cancer diagnosis also qualifies.
The Manitoba Hydro Home Energy Efficiency Loan covers radon mitigation up to $5,000 over 5 years at 6.2% (O.A.C.), repaid on your energy bill. There’s no income test, and the contractor must be C-NRPP certified.
There is currently no federal radon tax credit that we could find. We keep the details in radon mitigation grants in Manitoba.
Buying or selling
We found no Manitoba rule that requires radon testing or disclosure when a house is sold. A proper long-term test takes at least 91 days, which may not fit your timeline. Whether to write in a condition, a holdback or a disclosure is a question for your realtor or lawyer, not a blog post.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is radon in Winnipeg worse than in the rest of Canada?
In the 2024 Cross-Canada Survey, 37.4% of the Winnipeg homes tested were at or above 200 Bq/m3, against 17.8% nationally. Those Winnipeg figures are unweighted and come from people who chose to test. Either way, the only number that tells you about your house is your own long-term test.
How long does a radon test take?
Health Canada recommends a long-term test of at least 91 days, ideally 3 to 12 months, run during the heating season. Place it on the lowest lived-in level, at least 30 cm above the floor and 30 cm from walls. If it ran less than 91 days, repeat it.
Can I borrow a radon detector from the Winnipeg library?
Yes. Winnipeg Public Library lends digital screening monitors free at every branch from 1 November to 30 April, on a three-week loan. Treat the reading as a screening and follow up with a long-term test before deciding on a system.
My newer Winnipeg house has a radon pipe. Am I covered?
Not on its own. The rough-in required since Manitoba adopted it in 2011 is a capped pipe under the slab, and the code says it does not actively reduce radon levels. Test the house, and if the result is over 200, a certified mitigation professional can tell you whether the rough-in is usable.