Bracken County, KY Shrink-Swell Risk

What Bracken County, KY's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Bracken County, KY's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 3.51% across 91.4% of the county's surveyed land. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Bracken County, KY at once, not any single address. 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 Bracken County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Bracken County, KY rating "Moderate", 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 Bracken County, KY compares

Nationally, Bracken County, KY is the 836-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Kentucky alone it ranks 26 of 120. Bracken County, KY is 203 square miles with a population of 8,497.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. McNairy County, TN and Powder River 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 Kentucky

Every county in Kentucky is on this site, including Magoffin County, KY and Barren County, KY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.