Knox County, ME Shrink-Swell Risk

What Knox County, ME's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Knox County, ME's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.1% across 91.5% 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 Knox County, ME 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 Knox County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Knox County, ME 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.

Knox County's rank among Maine counties

Nationally, Knox County, ME is the 2,842-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Maine alone it ranks 8 of 16. The county spans 365 square miles, home to 40,981 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Clinton County, IN and Eddy County, ND 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 Maine

Every county in Maine is on this site, including Androscoggin County, ME and Kennebec County, ME. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.