Giles County, TN Shrink-Swell Risk

What Giles County, TN's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Giles County, TN's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.51% across 70% 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 Giles County, TN at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Giles County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Giles County, TN 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, Giles County, TN is the 1,555-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Tennessee alone it ranks 24 of 95. The county spans 611 square miles, home to 30,971 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Howard County, IA and Armstrong County, PA 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 Tennessee

Every county in Tennessee is on this site, including Humphreys County, TN and Knox County, TN. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.