Keokuk County, IA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Keokuk County, IA's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Keokuk County, IA's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 4.86% across 82.4% of the county's surveyed land. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Keokuk County, IA 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 Keokuk County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Keokuk County, IA 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.

Keokuk County's rank among Iowa counties

Nationally, Keokuk County, IA is the 318-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Iowa alone it ranks 24 of 99. Keokuk County covers 579 square miles and counts 9,855 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Stearns County, MN and Scotland 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 Iowa

Every county in Iowa is on this site, including Monona County, IA and Black Hawk County, IA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.