Kauai County, HI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Kauai County, HI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Kauai County, HI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.66% across 87.8% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Kauai County, HI at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Kauai County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Kauai County, HI 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.

Kauai County's rank among Hawaii counties

Nationally, Kauai County, HI is the 2,324-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Hawaii alone it ranks 3 of 3. Kauai County, HI is 620 square miles with a population of 73,840.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Stanley County, SD and St. Francois County, MO 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 Hawaii

Every county in Hawaii is on this site, including Kalawao County, HI and Maui County, HI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.