Lorain County, OH Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lorain County, OH's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lorain County, OH's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.85% across 65.5% 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 Lorain County, OH 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 Lorain County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lorain County, OH 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.

Lorain County's rank among Ohio counties

Nationally, Lorain County, OH is the 1,306-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Ohio alone it ranks 58 of 88. Lorain County, OH is 491 square miles with a population of 322,030.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Benson County, ND and Jefferson County, GA 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 Ohio

Every county in Ohio is on this site, including Union County, OH and Madison County, OH. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.