Gloucester County, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

Gloucester County, VA's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Gloucester County, VA: USDA's soil survey rates 82% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.16% linear extensibility). 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.

What Gloucester County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Gloucester County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. 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 Gloucester County.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Gloucester 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.

How Gloucester County, VA compares

Nationally, Gloucester County, VA is the 1,834-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 65 of 114. Gloucester County, VA is 218 square miles with a population of 40,154.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Kimball County, NE and Person County, NC 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 Northumberland County, VA and Henry County, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.