Iron County, MI Shrink-Swell Risk

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

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Iron County, MI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.4% across 100% 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 Iron County, MI 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 Iron 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, Iron County, MI is the 3,059-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Michigan alone it ranks 78 of 83. Iron County, MI is 1,166 square miles with a population of 11,709.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Carbon County, PA and Harmon County, OK 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 Dickinson County, MI and Leelanau County, MI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.