Lincoln County, MT Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lincoln County, MT's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lincoln County, MT's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.35% across 91.2% 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 Lincoln County, MT 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 Lincoln County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lincoln County, MT 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 Lincoln County, MT compares

Nationally, Lincoln County, MT is the 2,662-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Montana alone it ranks 53 of 54. Lincoln County, MT is 3,613 square miles with a population of 22,184.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Wyandotte County, KS and Jennings County, IN 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 Montana

Every county in Montana is on this site, including Fergus County, MT and Prairie County, MT. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.