Brewster County, TX Shrink-Swell Risk

What Brewster County, TX's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Brewster County, TX's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.78% across 75.9% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Brewster County, TX 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 Brewster County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Brewster County, TX 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, Brewster County, TX is the 2,189-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 241 of 253. Brewster County covers 6,184 square miles and counts 9,508 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Greenville County, SC and Merced 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 Texas

Every county in Texas is on this site, including Delta County, TX and Jones County, TX. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.