Luzerne County, PA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Luzerne County, PA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Luzerne County, PA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.92% across 100% 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 Luzerne County, PA 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 Luzerne County, PA 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Luzerne County, PA is the 2,936-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Pennsylvania alone it ranks 60 of 67. The county spans 890 square miles, home to 331,379 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Grant County, AR and Lowndes County, MS 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 Pennsylvania

Every county in Pennsylvania is on this site, including Northampton County, PA and Clearfield County, PA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.