Baltimore County, MD Shrink-Swell Risk

Baltimore County, MD's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Baltimore County, MD: USDA's soil survey rates 89.2% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.8% linear extensibility). That's the easiest starting point on this site's scale - a standard foundation is the reasonable default here, though any one lot can still differ.

What Baltimore County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Baltimore 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 Baltimore County, MD 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Baltimore County, MD is the 2,166-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Maryland alone it ranks 6 of 24. Baltimore County covers 598 square miles and counts 852,425 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Roscommon County, MI and Mono County, CA 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 Maryland

Every county in Maryland is on this site, including Carroll County, MD and Frederick County, MD. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.