Berks County, PA Shrink-Swell Risk

Berks County, PA's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Berks County, PA: USDA's soil survey rates 75.6% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.78% 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 Berks County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Berks County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. A site-specific soil report, usually $1,000-$5,000, is what an engineer would actually pull before designing a foundation on a lot in Berks County.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Berks County, PA 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 Berks County, PA compares

Nationally, Berks County, PA is the 2,184-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Pennsylvania alone it ranks 14 of 67. The county spans 856 square miles, home to 439,117 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Macon County, MO and Wayne County, NY 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 Pennsylvania

Every county in Pennsylvania is on this site, including Tioga County, PA and Jefferson County, PA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.