Radon Testing and Mitigation in Spencer, IA
Midwest Radon Pros is part of Midwest Companies, and our shop is on Aurora Avenue West in Spirit Lake, about half an hour north of Spencer. Radon gives no warning. You cannot see it or smell it, and the only way to know what a building is doing with it is to put a meter on it. Every county in Iowa sits in the EPA’s highest risk zone, Clay County included.
We handle State of Iowa credentialed radon testing, mitigation installs, fan replacements, repairs, new construction systems, and real estate testing for homes and buildings in Spencer. Every mitigation job ends with a post test, so the work comes with a number instead of a handshake.
Midwest Radon Pros.
Why Radon Is a Problem in Spencer
Radon is a soil gas. The ground under Spencer is glacial drift, rock the last ice sheet ground to powder and left behind, and trace uranium in it decays into radium, radium decays into radon. The gas works up through the soil until a heated building acts like a low grade vacuum and pulls it in through slab cracks, sump pits, floor drains, and gaps around plumbing.
Iowa HHS puts the average indoor radon level in Iowa at 8.5 pCi/L against a national average of 1.3, and the Iowa Radon Survey found 71.6 percent of Iowa homes above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L, the highest share in the country. Those are state numbers and they are the reason to test. They are not a prediction for any particular address.
If Your Basement Was Rebuilt, the Old Number Is Gone
Start with the part people ask about first. Floodwater does not cause radon. Radon comes out of soil, not out of a river, and a house that took on water in June of 2024 is not more radioactive for it.
What the last two years did change is how a house meets the ground. Flood repair touches the exact parts of a building that control whether soil gas gets inside. Slabs get cut for new plumbing and patched. Drain tile gets replaced or added. Sump pits get dug, enlarged, or moved. Foundation walls get repaired, sealed, tuckpointed, or in some cases rebuilt, and the Clay County Long Term Recovery Group was still reporting homes needing foundation work as recently as the summer of 2026. Basements that were gutted down to the block have been reframed and refinished since.
Every one of those is a radon entry path being opened, closed, or relocated. A test result from 2021 described a building that no longer exists in the same form. It is not that the house is worse. It is that the number is out of date, and nobody can tell you which direction it moved by looking at it.
Two specific things worth checking if this is your situation. First, if you had a mitigation system before the flood, look at it. Systems got damaged, fans got submerged, pipes got cut during demolition, and sump lids that were sealed for radon got opened for a pump swap and never resealed. Check the manometer on the pipe. If the liquid in the two legs has leveled out, the system is not pulling. Second, if your basement was finished into living space during the rebuild, that space is now occupied for hours a day on the lowest floor of the house, which is where radon concentrates.
If you are rebuilding on a cleared lot rather than repairing, the new construction rules apply, and a passive system roughed in while the foundation is open costs a fraction of retrofitting one later.
Our Radon Services.
Radon Services in Spencer, IA
The calls come in a few shapes. A building has never been tested. A result came back high. A fan that ran for years has gone quiet. A closing is coming and radon is part of the deal.
Radon Testing
A continuous monitor goes on the lowest livable level and runs at least 48 hours under closed house conditions. It records hour by hour instead of handing back one averaged figure, and that record also shows whether the building stayed closed while the test ran. You get the result in plain language and a straight answer about what it means. Learn more about radon testing.
Radon Mitigation
At 4 pCi/L or higher, the fix is a sub slab depressurization system. A pipe reaches into the soil under the foundation, a fan holds steady suction there, and the gas vents above the roofline instead of collecting in the basement. Most installs are finished in a day, and every one ends with a post test that proves the level came down. See how radon mitigation works.
Fan Replacement and System Repair
Radon fans last five to ten years even in ordinary service, and Spencer has systems that went through a flood on top of that. When a fan quits, the system quits with it, silently. We replace fans, repair piping, reseal sump lids, and get existing systems working again, which is usually cheaper than people expect.
New Construction Radon Systems
As of July 1, 2026, Iowa building code requires a passive radon system in new single and two family homes. Between ordinary construction and rebuilding on cleared ground, that comes up here more than in most towns. Roughing a system in while the foundation is open costs a fraction of retrofitting later. A passive stub does not always get the level low enough on its own, so test the finished house and add a fan if the number calls for one.
Real Estate Radon Testing
Iowa has no rule requiring a radon test during a sale, but sellers must disclose known test results, and buyers increasingly ask for a test anyway. We test with equipment and protocols that hold up on both sides of the closing table, and we schedule against the closing date, because closing dates do not move for anyone.
What to Expect From a Radon Test or Install
Call or request a quote, and we sort out the building type, the test type, and the calendar. The monitor goes on the lowest livable level and we explain closed house conditions. The building stays closed for the test window, then we pull the data and send the result. If mitigation is called for, we quote it, schedule it, and close it out with a post test. On a repair, we check the fan, the manometer, the piping, and the vent line first.
Pricing and Estimates
Radon work gets priced after we see the building. The foundation, the sump pit, the fan placement, and how many suction points it takes all move the number, and on a basement that has been rebuilt, what is under the new slab matters as much as what is on top of it. Call and we will talk through what to expect, but the number itself comes when we are standing in the building.
Why Spencer Property Owners Choose Midwest Radon Pros
Iowa requires anyone paid to install a radon reduction system to be credentialed through the state. Our installers are, and we show the credential without being asked. Past the credential, what matters is proof. A system that looks right and pulls nothing is worse than no system, because it feels solved. That is why every install ends with a post test.
We are half an hour up the road, not around the corner, and that is worth being straight about. Ask us for the credential and for a post installation test in writing, and ask the same of anybody else you call. If somebody closer gives you both, hire them. Midwest Radon Pros is part of Midwest Companies, so when radon work runs into a crawl space, insulation, or Guarantee Gutter question, the same local operation handles it. We do the same work north of here in Milford and Spirit Lake.
Rental Property in Spencer
Spencer lost a large share of its rental stock to the flood and a lot of it has been rebuilt since. Iowa does not require a landlord to test a rental for radon, and we are not going to tell you it does. What testing gives you is a documented number for a unit whose below-grade envelope is not the one that was there before, which is useful if a tenant ever asks and more useful if the building changes hands.
If you own several units, tell us when you call. Testing a handful of buildings on the same trip is a different conversation than testing one house, and it usually ends up cheaper per unit.
Common Radon Calls Around Spencer
A rebuilt basement gets finished into a bedroom and somebody thinks to ask about the air. A pre-flood mitigation system has a manometer nobody has looked at since 2024. An inspection comes back high two weeks before closing. A new build on a cleared lot has a capped pipe in the slab and the owner has no idea whether it does anything. A landlord with four units wants one trip and four numbers. All routine, and all of them start with a number.
Get a Radon Estimate in Spencer, IA
Need a test, a repair, a fan replacement, or a system for a new build? Call (712) 339-6868 or Schedule a Call. You are also welcome to stop by the shop.
You can also visit us at:
2902 Aurora Avenue West
Spirit Lake, Iowa 51360
Radon Service Area Around Spencer
We serve Spencer and the surrounding area, including Everly, Fostoria, Greenville, Dickens, Webb, Royal, and rural Clay County addresses, along with Milford and Spirit Lake to the north. If you are not sure your address is in range, call (712) 339-6868 and we will tell you in about a minute.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Questions Spencer Homeowners Ask About Radon
Did the flood cause a radon problem?
No. Radon comes out of soil through radioactive decay, and floodwater has nothing to do with it. Your house is not more radioactive because it took on water. What changed is the building, not the ground. Slabs were cut, drain tile went in, sump pits moved, and foundations were repaired, and all of those are paths that soil gas uses. The risk did not go up because of the river. The old test result just stopped describing the house.
Our basement was gutted and rebuilt. Should we retest?
Yes, and it is one of the clearer cases for testing there is. Every entry point radon uses was disturbed, and some of them were relocated. On top of that, a rebuilt basement is often a finished basement, which means somebody is now spending real hours on the lowest floor of the house. Test it in the condition you are actually living in it, and if the number is fine you will know that too.
Our mitigation system went underwater. Is it still any good?
Maybe, and it is worth ten seconds to check. Find the manometer on the pipe, the small gauge with colored liquid in a U shape. If the two sides have leveled out, the fan is not pulling and the system is doing nothing. Even if it shows suction, a system whose sump seal was broken during a pump swap, or whose piping was cut during demolition, can still be running and still be useless. A test is the only thing that settles it, and a repair is almost always cheaper than a replacement.
I am a landlord. Do I have to test?
Not under state law. There is no state rule requiring radon testing in rental housing, and a handful of Iowa cities have their own, but Spencer is not one of them. Licensed childcare centers and public schools do have testing requirements, and rentals do not. The practical case for testing anyway is that it gives you a documented number for a building that has changed, which matters when a tenant asks or when the property sells.
Can you work around a closing date?
Yes. Give us the date on the first call. A 48 hour test plus results, and if mitigation is needed a one day install with a verification test 24 hours after the fan starts, fits inside most inspection periods when it is scheduled early rather than in the last week.
I already have a system. How do I know it is still working?
Check the manometer, and then test. The gauge tells you the fan is moving air. Only a measurement tells you the radon level actually came down, which is why the EPA recommends retesting every two years, mitigated homes included.