Iowa has a radon problem, and the Cedar Valley is not exempt from it. The Iowa Radon Survey found that 71.6% of Iowa homes test at or above the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L — the largest percentage of any state — and the EPA places every one of Iowa’s 99 counties, Black Hawk County included, in Radon Zone 1, its highest-risk category. Closer to home, Black Hawk County’s own Board of Health reports that almost 40% of radon tests run in the county from 2000 to 2024 came back at or above the action level.
The only way to know where your house stands is to test it. If the number comes back high, a properly installed mitigation system will bring it down — usually in a single day’s work.
We’re a local radon referral service. Call or submit the form and we’ll connect you with a certified radon professional serving Black Hawk County. There’s no charge to you for the referral.
Radon rises from the ground, and the ground under the Cedar Valley is the reason Iowa’s numbers run so high. Ice-age glaciers ground uranium-bearing rock into the loose glacial material that underlies most of the state. Pulverized rock has far more surface area than solid bedrock, so the trace uranium in it releases radon efficiently — and the gas moves easily through loose soil into basements. Here’s the full story of why 7 in 10 Iowa homes test high.
The housing stock finishes the job. Cedar Valley homes overwhelmingly have basements — many of them finished and lived in — sitting directly against that soil. And our long, sealed-up winters concentrate whatever gets in, which is why winter readings typically run higher than summer ones.
Waterloo Radon is a referral service run by people who know this market. We connect Cedar Valley homeowners with certified radon professionals for:
A proper mitigation job follows four steps. Assess: a certified professional examines the foundation, sump, drain tile, and slab to find how soil gas enters. Design: the system is sized to the house — suction point placement, pipe routing, fan selection. Install: typically one day; a pipe runs from beneath the slab to above the roofline with an inline fan drawing continuous suction. Verify: a proper job ends with a post-installation retest showing the level below 4.0 pCi/L. Iowa HHS endorses national ANSI/AARST standards for how this work gets done, and certified professionals follow them.
Most Cedar Valley homes fall in the $800–$2,500 range, with a standard sub-slab depressurization system on a typical basement usually landing between $1,000 and $1,500. Complicated foundations — additions on separate slabs, block-wall basements in Waterloo’s older neighborhoods, homes needing multiple suction points — push toward the top of the range. Anyone quoting you should look at your actual foundation first.
The Cedar Valley is a specific market: early-1900s housing near downtown Waterloo with block foundations, generations of John Deere factory-worker homes, University of Northern Iowa rentals on College Hill, and newer subdivisions on the Cedar Falls south side. Each of those foundations behaves differently. The professionals we refer work in Black Hawk County regularly — they’re certified through the State of Iowa, which requires credentials for radon measurement and mitigation work.
The EPA attributes about 21,000 U.S. lung cancer deaths per year to radon — it’s the leading cause of lung cancer among people who have never smoked. The Iowa Cancer Consortium estimates roughly 400 radon-attributed lung cancer deaths per year in Iowa alone.
No. Radon varies house to house on the same street — it depends on your foundation, your soil contact, and your home’s air pressure. The only house’s number that matters is yours.
The EPA action level is 4.0 pCi/L. The average Iowa home tests around 8.5 pCi/L — more than six times the national average of about 1.3 — so high results are normal here, and fixable.
Yes. A properly installed and verified system typically brings homes below the action level, often below 2 pCi/L. The key word is verified — a proper job ends with a retest.
Short-term tests run 2–7 days. Long-term tests (90+ days) give a better picture of your annual average. Real estate transactions usually use short-term protocols with specific placement rules.
Yes — immediately after installation, and every two years after that, which is the retest cadence Iowa HHS and the Black Hawk County Board of Health both recommend.
We’re a local radon referral service. Call or submit the form and we’ll connect you with a certified radon professional serving Black Hawk County. There’s no charge to you for the referral.
Waterloo Radon — Connecting Cedar Valley homeowners with certified radon professionals.
Serving Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Evansdale, Hudson, Waverly, Jesup, La Porte City, Denver, and Dike — all of Black Hawk County and the surrounding Cedar Valley.
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Radon information on this site is general guidance, not a substitute for professional testing of your specific home. Waterloo Radon is a referral service and does not itself perform radon measurement or mitigation.