Essex County, VT Shrink-Swell Risk

What Essex County, VT's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Essex County, VT's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.55% across 100% of the county's surveyed land. That's the easiest starting point on this site's scale - a standard foundation is the reasonable default here, though any one lot can still differ.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Essex County, VT at once, not any single address. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Essex County, VT 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.

Essex County's rank among Vermont counties

Nationally, Essex County, VT is the 3,047-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Vermont alone it ranks 14 of 14. Essex County, VT is 662 square miles with a population of 6,037.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Nobles County, MN and Sanilac County, MI 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 Vermont

Every county in Vermont is on this site, including Grand Isle County, VT and Chittenden County, VT. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.