Caroline County, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Caroline County, VA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Caroline County, VA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.57% across 97.1% 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 Caroline County, VA 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 Caroline County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Caroline County, VA 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.

Caroline County's rank among Virginia counties

Nationally, Caroline County, VA is the 2,416-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 107 of 114. Caroline County, VA is 527 square miles with a population of 33,477.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Polk County, WI and Union County, OR 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 Virginia

Every county in Virginia is on this site, including Albemarle County, VA and Charlottesville city, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.