Delaware County, NY Shrink-Swell Risk

What Delaware County, NY's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Delaware County, NY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.98% across 99.9% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Delaware County, NY 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 Delaware County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Delaware County, NY 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 Delaware County, NY compares

Nationally, Delaware County, NY is the 2,901-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New York alone it ranks 49 of 62. Delaware County covers 1,443 square miles and counts 44,191 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Sedgwick County, KS and Bibb County, GA 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 York

Every county in New York is on this site, including Seneca County, NY and Chenango County, NY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.