Clarendon County, SC Shrink-Swell Risk

What Clarendon County, SC's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Clarendon County, SC's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.41% across 99.9% of the county's surveyed land. That's the easiest starting point on this site's scale - a standard foundation is the reasonable default here, though any one lot can still differ.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Clarendon County, SC 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 Clarendon County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Clarendon County, SC 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 Clarendon County, SC compares

Nationally, Clarendon County, SC is the 2,608-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within South Carolina alone it ranks 39 of 46. The county spans 607 square miles, home to 31,030 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Daviess County, MO and Washington County, PA 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 South Carolina

Every county in South Carolina is on this site, including Dorchester County, SC and Aiken County, SC. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.