Lafayette Parish, LA Shrink-Swell Risk

Lafayette Parish's SSURGO shrink-swell reading

Moderate

In Lafayette Parish, LA, 75.3% of the surveyed soil carries a "Moderate" shrink-swell rating, 3.41% linear extensibility on average. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

Before you rely on this for one address

Lafayette Parish's reading is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. 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 Lafayette Parish.

Budgeting for Lafayette Parish, LA

Lafayette Parish's soil reading points toward standard foundation practice as the likely outcome, not the exception. 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.

Lafayette Parish's rank among Louisiana counties

Among the 3,085 rated counties on this site, Lafayette Parish, LA ranks 901 most-constrained nationally, and 46 of 64 within Louisiana. Lafayette Parish covers 269 square miles and counts 254,241 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Tipton County, IN and Sherman County, KS 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

Elsewhere in Louisiana

Every county in Louisiana is on this site, including Natchitoches Parish, LA and Richland Parish, LA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.