Kanawha County, WV Shrink-Swell Risk

Kanawha County, WV's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Kanawha County, WV: USDA's soil survey rates 80.4% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.99% 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 Kanawha County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Kanawha 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 Kanawha County.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Kanawha County, WV 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.

Kanawha County's rank among West Virginia counties

Nationally, Kanawha County, WV is the 1,992-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within West Virginia alone it ranks 26 of 55. Kanawha County, WV is 902 square miles with a population of 173,906.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Dubuque County, IA and Alger County, MI 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 West Virginia

Every county in West Virginia is on this site, including McDowell County, WV and Barbour County, WV. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.