Chatham County, GA Shrink-Swell Risk
Chatham County, GA's soil, for shrink-swell risk
Low
Chatham County, GA: USDA's soil survey rates 68% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.87% linear extensibility). Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.
What Chatham County's reading doesn't cover
Two lots a mile apart in Chatham County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).
What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it
With Chatham County, GA 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.
How Chatham County, GA compares
Nationally, Chatham County, GA is the 1,277-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Georgia alone it ranks 4 of 159. Chatham County covers 433 square miles and counts 307,336 residents.
Before you act on this
Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Essex County, NJ and Decatur County, IN 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 Georgia
Every county in Georgia is on this site, including Liberty County, GA and Montgomery County, GA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.