Bristol County, RI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Bristol County, RI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Bristol County, RI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.66% across 99.3% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Bristol County, RI at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Bristol County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Bristol County, RI 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, Bristol County, RI is the 3,027-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Rhode Island alone it ranks 5 of 5. The county spans 24 square miles, home to 50,145 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. George County, MS and Montgomery County, IL 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 Rhode Island

Every county in Rhode Island is on this site, including Newport County, RI and Washington County, RI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.