Esmeralda County, NV Shrink-Swell Risk

What Esmeralda County, NV's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Esmeralda County, NV's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.66% across 91.8% 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 Esmeralda County, NV 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 Esmeralda County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Esmeralda County, NV 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.

Esmeralda County's rank among Nevada counties

Nationally, Esmeralda County, NV is the 2,330-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Nevada alone it ranks 16 of 17. The county spans 3,582 square miles, home to 720 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Koochiching County, MN and Barron 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 Nevada

Every county in Nevada is on this site, including Carson City, NV and Douglas County, NV. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.