Caldwell County, MO Shrink-Swell Risk

What Caldwell County, MO's soil means for a foundation

High

USDA's SSURGO data puts Caldwell County, MO's soil at "High" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 6.3% across 77.3% of the county's surveyed land. Ground like this needs active moisture control to keep a conventional foundation from cracking - it's not automatic either way.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Caldwell County, MO 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 Caldwell County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Caldwell County, MO rating "High", the gap between finding out early and finding out late is the whole decision. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Caldwell County's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Caldwell County, MO is the 100-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Missouri alone it ranks 9 of 114. Caldwell County covers 426 square miles and counts 9,000 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Sweet Grass County, MT and Screven County, GA are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · The warning signs of expansive-clay damage, explained

More of Missouri

Every county in Missouri is on this site, including Holt County, MO and Jefferson County, MO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.