Franklin County, NC Shrink-Swell Risk

What Franklin County, NC's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Franklin County, NC's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.04% across 84.7% 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 Franklin County, NC 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 Franklin County, NC 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Franklin County, NC is the 1,945-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within North Carolina alone it ranks 35 of 100. Franklin County covers 492 square miles and counts 79,771 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Yuma County, CO and Vermillion County, IN 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 North Carolina

Every county in North Carolina is on this site, including Halifax County, NC and Rutherford County, NC. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.