Beaverhead County, MT Shrink-Swell Risk

Beaverhead County, MT's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Beaverhead County, MT: USDA's soil survey rates 80.1% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.24% 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 Beaverhead County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Beaverhead 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 Beaverhead County, MT 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.

Beaverhead County's rank among Montana counties

Nationally, Beaverhead County, MT is the 1,767-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Montana alone it ranks 42 of 54. Beaverhead County, MT is 5,543 square miles with a population of 10,006.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Alleghany County, VA and Sandoval County, NM 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 Montana

Every county in Montana is on this site, including Richland County, MT and Valley County, MT. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.