De Baca County, NM Shrink-Swell Risk

What De Baca County, NM's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts De Baca County, NM's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.42% across 70.4% 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 De Baca County, NM 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 De Baca County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With De Baca County, NM 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.

De Baca County's rank among New Mexico counties

Nationally, De Baca County, NM is the 1,625-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New Mexico alone it ranks 24 of 32. De Baca County covers 2,323 square miles and counts 1,657 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Garfield County, NE and Winona County, MN 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 New Mexico

Every county in New Mexico is on this site, including Harding County, NM and Lincoln County, NM. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.