Garrett County, MD Shrink-Swell Risk

What Garrett County, MD's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Garrett County, MD's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.48% across 98.8% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Garrett County, MD 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 Garrett County, MD 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.

How Garrett County, MD compares

Nationally, Garrett County, MD is the 2,537-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Maryland alone it ranks 11 of 24. The county spans 649 square miles, home to 28,393 people.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Camas County, ID and St. Johns County, FL 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 Maryland

Every county in Maryland is on this site, including Baltimore County, MD and Talbot County, MD. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.