Baldwin County, AL Shrink-Swell Risk

Baldwin County, AL's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Baldwin County, AL: USDA's soil survey rates 91.4% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.76% linear extensibility). That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

What Baldwin County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Baldwin County 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

With Baldwin County, AL 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 Baldwin County, AL compares

Nationally, Baldwin County, AL is the 2,202-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Alabama alone it ranks 41 of 67. Baldwin County, AL is 1,590 square miles with a population of 261,608.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Meagher County, MT and Moore County, TX 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 Alabama

Every county in Alabama is on this site, including Covington County, AL and Dale County, AL. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.