Josephine County, OR Shrink-Swell Risk

What Josephine County, OR's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Josephine County, OR's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 3.07% across 56.8% of the county's surveyed land. That's a middle reading: not the sharp swings that crack a foundation outright, but enough that grading and drainage are worth getting right.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Josephine County, OR 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 Josephine County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Josephine County, OR rating "Moderate", 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, Josephine County, OR is the 1,140-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Oregon alone it ranks 13 of 36. The county spans 1,639 square miles, home to 88,276 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Tillman County, OK and Beaverhead County, MT 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 Oregon

Every county in Oregon is on this site, including Union County, OR and Deschutes County, OR. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.