Frederick County, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Frederick County, VA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Frederick County, VA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.22% across 68.3% 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 Frederick County, VA 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 Frederick County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Frederick County, VA 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.

Frederick County's rank among Virginia counties

Nationally, Frederick County, VA is the 1,781-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 60 of 114. The county spans 413 square miles, home to 98,109 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Shawano County, WI and Yellow Medicine County, MN 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 Virginia

Every county in Virginia is on this site, including Southampton County, VA and Lunenburg County, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.