Delaware County, PA Shrink-Swell Risk

Delaware County, PA's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Delaware County, PA: USDA's soil survey rates 90.7% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.23% linear extensibility). That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

What Delaware County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Delaware 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 Delaware County.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Delaware County, PA 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, PA compares

Nationally, Delaware County, PA is the 2,748-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Pennsylvania alone it ranks 56 of 67. The county spans 184 square miles, home to 584,882 people.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Bear Lake County, ID and Bastrop County, TX 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 Pennsylvania

Every county in Pennsylvania is on this site, including Lackawanna County, PA and Dauphin County, PA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.