Iowa / Guthrie County
Score 36 · moderate · #69 of 99 in IA
Crawl space moisture in Guthrie County, IA
Guthrie County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 77% of acres — it averages 2.6 ft below grade.
- 1Water table 2.6 ft
- 2Wet soils 26%
- 3Moisture score 36
- 4EPA radon zone 1
Reading the Guthrie County soil survey
The score of 36 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 35.6 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 35.4, a shallow water table 47, and flooding 8.3; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is C (60% of acres): slow infiltration (clay layers).
At 2.6 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 77% of acres that report one are by definition the wettest parts of the county; on those lots, a wet spring can bring water close to the footings.
Guthrie County against the rest of Iowa
Guthrie County ranks 69 of 99 Iowa counties, 11 points below the state median of 47. That places it in the middle range, nationally and for the state. Statewide, 44% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 26%, below the state figure — the score here comes from a shallow water table rather than drainage class alone. After well drained, the next most common class is moderately well drained at 35%.
Flooding. 0.9% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 12.1% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 0.4% of acres with a flooding class are rated rare. Flood-prone soils are a minority here, concentrated along streams; the score mostly reflects what happens between floods.
What it means for a crawl space here
In a moderate county the soil record is mixed rather than uniformly wet, so conditions vary from lot to lot. Where the lot drains, the model-code default — a vented crawl space with 1 sq ft of net vent per 150 sq ft of floor, or 1 per 1500 with a Class I vapor retarder on the ground — is a reasonable starting point; where the sections above point to a shallow water table or flood-prone soil on your lot, plan as for an elevated county. Either way, check the site first: grading that falls away from the foundation, gutters and downspouts that discharge well clear of it, and a ground cover over bare earth. A wet crawl space in a moderate county points to one of those first.
Radon. Guthrie County is in EPA radon zone 1, the highest predicted potential. A sealed crawl space and a radon system share most of their parts — the liner, the sealed seams, a fan — so if you are encapsulating, test for radon first and design both together. EPA itself says the zone map is not a reason to skip testing in zones 2 and 3.
Near Guthrie County by score
Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area IA077; drainage covers 99% of 379,900 mapped acres); EPA Map of Radon Zones, county table (June 2024 JSON); IRC R408.3 Unvented crawl space, as adopted in S.C. Code Regs. 8-1221 (LII). Checked 2026-10-23.