Craven County, NC Shrink-Swell Risk

Craven County, NC's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Craven County, NC: USDA's soil survey rates 77.1% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.23% linear extensibility). 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.

What Craven County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Craven County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. 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 Craven County.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Craven County, NC 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 Craven County, NC compares

Nationally, Craven County, NC is the 1,772-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within North Carolina alone it ranks 26 of 100. The county spans 707 square miles, home to 104,167 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Hancock County, WV and Jefferson County, TN 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 North Carolina

Every county in North Carolina is on this site, including Randolph County, NC and Edgecombe County, NC. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.