Barnstable County, MA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Barnstable County, MA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Barnstable County, MA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.55% across 99.6% of the county's surveyed land. 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.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Barnstable County, MA at once, not any single address. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Barnstable County, MA 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, Barnstable County, MA is the 3,045-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Massachusetts alone it ranks 11 of 14. The county spans 394 square miles, home to 232,570 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Upshur County, WV and Judith Basin County, MT 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 Massachusetts

Every county in Massachusetts is on this site, including Dukes County, MA and Nantucket County, MA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.