Caldwell County, TX Shrink-Swell Risk

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

High

USDA's SSURGO data puts Caldwell County, TX's soil at "High" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 7.16% across 34.7% 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, TX 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, TX 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.

How Caldwell County, TX compares

Nationally, Caldwell County, TX is the 73-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 26 of 253. Caldwell County, TX is 545 square miles with a population of 52,430.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Leon County, TX and Marshall County, AL 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 Texas

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