Lawrence County, AL Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lawrence County, AL's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lawrence County, AL's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.81% across 70.2% 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 Lawrence County, AL 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 Lawrence County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lawrence County, AL 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.

Lawrence County's rank among Alabama counties

Nationally, Lawrence County, AL is the 1,338-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Alabama alone it ranks 14 of 67. The county spans 691 square miles, home to 33,567 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Indian River County, FL and Miller 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 Alabama

Every county in Alabama is on this site, including Fayette County, AL and Morgan County, AL. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.