Lexington County, SC Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lexington County, SC's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lexington County, SC's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.43% across 97.6% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Lexington County, SC 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 Lexington County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lexington County, SC 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 Lexington County, SC compares

Nationally, Lexington County, SC is the 2,581-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within South Carolina alone it ranks 37 of 46. Lexington County, SC is 699 square miles with a population of 313,774.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Crowley County, CO and Monongalia County, WV 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 South Carolina

Every county in South Carolina is on this site, including Abbeville County, SC and Marlboro County, SC. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.