Gogebic County, MI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Gogebic County, MI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Gogebic County, MI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.6% across 99.1% 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 Gogebic County, MI 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 Gogebic County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Gogebic County, MI 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, Gogebic County, MI is the 3,035-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Michigan alone it ranks 74 of 83. Gogebic County covers 1,102 square miles and counts 14,217 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Greene County, AL and Baltimore County, MD 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 Michigan

Every county in Michigan is on this site, including Berrien County, MI and Clinton County, MI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.