Douglas County, OR Shrink-Swell Risk

What Douglas County, OR's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Douglas County, OR's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 3.15% across 46.1% of the county's surveyed land. That's a middle reading: not the sharp swings that crack a foundation outright, but enough that grading and drainage are worth getting right.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Douglas County, OR at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Douglas County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Douglas County, OR 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 Douglas County, OR compares

Nationally, Douglas County, OR is the 1,082-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Oregon alone it ranks 11 of 36. Douglas County, OR is 5,036 square miles with a population of 112,255.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Decatur County, KS and Florence County, WI 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 Oregon

Every county in Oregon is on this site, including Union County, OR and Deschutes County, OR. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.