Lee County, KY Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lee County, KY's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lee County, KY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.07% across 80% 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 Lee County, KY at once, not any single address. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lee County, KY 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.

Lee County's rank among Kentucky counties

Nationally, Lee County, KY is the 1,921-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Kentucky alone it ranks 89 of 120. Lee County, KY is 209 square miles with a population of 7,313.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Hamilton County, IN and St. Louis County, MN 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 Kentucky

Every county in Kentucky is on this site, including Madison County, KY and Spencer County, KY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.