Lake County, MN Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lake County, MN's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lake County, MN's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.46% across 87.2% of the county's surveyed land. 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.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Lake County, MN 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 Lake County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lake County, MN 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.

How Lake County, MN compares

Nationally, Lake County, MN is the 2,561-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Minnesota alone it ranks 77 of 87. Lake County, MN is 2,109 square miles with a population of 10,698.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Georgetown County, SC and Marion County, FL 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 Minnesota

Every county in Minnesota is on this site, including Itasca County, MN and Clearwater County, MN. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.