Avoyelles Parish, LA Shrink-Swell Risk

Avoyelles Parish, LA's soil, for shrink-swell risk

High

Avoyelles Parish, LA: USDA's soil survey rates 54.1% of the county "High" for shrink-swell potential (8.96% linear extensibility). This is enough movement to matter: a standard footing can hold up here, but usually only with real moisture management, not by default.

What Avoyelles Parish's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Avoyelles Parish can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

Avoyelles Parish's soil reading is exactly the case where a report before construction, or before cracks widen, pays for itself. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Avoyelles Parish's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Avoyelles Parish, LA is the 44-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Louisiana alone it ranks 21 of 64. The county spans 831 square miles, home to 38,373 people.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Howard County, NE and Huntington County, IN are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · The warning signs of expansive-clay damage, explained

More of Louisiana

Every county in Louisiana is on this site, including Red River Parish, LA and East Feliciana Parish, LA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.