Lancaster County, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lancaster County, VA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lancaster County, VA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.74% across 80.6% 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 Lancaster County, VA 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 Lancaster County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lancaster County, VA 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Lancaster County, VA is the 2,237-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 99 of 114. Lancaster County, VA is 133 square miles with a population of 11,062.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Tyler County, TX and Flagler 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 Virginia

Every county in Virginia is on this site, including Richmond County, VA and Chesapeake city, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.