Limestone County, TX Shrink-Swell Risk

What Limestone County, TX's soil means for a foundation

High

USDA's SSURGO data puts Limestone County, TX's soil at "High" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 6.54% across 41.8% of the county's surveyed land. Ground like this needs active moisture control to keep a conventional foundation from cracking - it's not automatic either way.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Limestone County, TX 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 Limestone County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Limestone County, TX rating "High", the gap between finding out early and finding out late is the whole decision. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Limestone County's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.

How Limestone County, TX compares

Nationally, Limestone County, TX is the 87-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 32 of 253. Limestone County, TX is 905 square miles with a population of 22,569.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Evangeline Parish, LA and Mathews County, VA are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · The warning signs of expansive-clay damage, explained

More of Texas

Every county in Texas is on this site, including Kleberg County, TX and Hays County, TX. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.