Alamosa County, CO Shrink-Swell Risk

What Alamosa County, CO's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Alamosa County, CO's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.52% across 91.3% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Alamosa County, CO at once, not any single address. A site-specific soil report, usually $1,000-$5,000, is what an engineer would actually pull before designing a foundation on a lot in Alamosa County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Alamosa County, CO rating "Low", a geotechnical report is still worthwhile before a build, just less urgent than in a high-risk county. A geotechnical report runs $1,000-$5,000, typically around $2,700. Foundation repair, if a specific lot turns out to differ from the county average, runs $5,000-$15,000.

How Alamosa County, CO compares

Nationally, Alamosa County, CO is the 2,474-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Colorado alone it ranks 51 of 63. Alamosa County covers 723 square miles and counts 16,689 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Portage County, OH and Suwannee County, FL are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · Moisture management: the cheap fix that works on any soil

More of Colorado

Every county in Colorado is on this site, including Routt County, CO and Lincoln County, CO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.