New Construction Radon Systems in Nevada, IA

New construction radon in Nevada, IA divides cleanly at July 1, 2026. That’s the day Iowa’s HF 2297 took effect, requiring a passive radon mitigation system, vent pipe roughed in from sub-slab to roofline, in every newly built single-family home and duplex in the state. The legislature passed it nearly unanimously, which in the nation’s highest-radon state counts as overdue paperwork. For Nevada, the county-seat detail that matters: Story County never had a local radon-resistant construction rule before the state acted, so the dividing line here is sharp. Permitted after July 2026: pipe included. Built before: nothing, by default.

What new-build owners actually have

A passive system is infrastructure, not a result. The pipe gives soil gas a preferential path and natural stack draft does the moving, which works against mild soil and loses regularly against Iowa till, the stuff that built a statewide 8.5 pCi/L average. Nothing in the law requires the finished house to test under 4.0; that verification belongs to the owner. The good news is the economics: on a post-law home, finishing the job means an inline fan in the existing pipe, an electrical connection, a manometer, and a retest. On a pre-law home, it means a standard sub-slab retrofit, still four figures, still a day.

The Nevada build picture

New construction on the county seat’s edges joins housing stock that spans a century, all of it on the same till. Buyers comparing a new build against an older Nevada home shouldn’t score the radon question on age: the older home might hold a working system from a past sale, the new one might hold an unactivated pipe, and only test results rank them. First closed-house season, roughly November through April, is the honest exam for any of them.

Iowa Code 136B credentials everyone doing this work for hire, activation included; ask for the credential. Straight answers on the new law, activations, and retrofits across Nevada and Story County. Call, and bring the permit date if you know it.