Dearborn County, IN Shrink-Swell Risk

What Dearborn County, IN's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Dearborn County, IN's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 3.94% across 45% of the county's surveyed land. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Dearborn County, IN 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 Dearborn County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Dearborn County, IN rating "Moderate", 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 Dearborn County, IN compares

Nationally, Dearborn County, IN is the 602-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Indiana alone it ranks 12 of 90. Dearborn County, IN is 305 square miles with a population of 51,435.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Kitsap County, WA and Torrance County, NM 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 Indiana

Every county in Indiana is on this site, including Marshall County, IN and Jay County, IN. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.