Madison County, IA Shrink-Swell Risk

Madison County's SSURGO shrink-swell reading

Moderate

In Madison County, IA, 64.1% of the surveyed soil carries a "Moderate" shrink-swell rating, 5.63% linear extensibility on average. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

Before you rely on this for one address

Madison County's reading is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Budgeting for Madison County, IA

Madison County's soil reading points toward standard foundation practice as the likely outcome, not the exception. 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 Madison County, IA compares

Among the 3,085 rated counties on this site, Madison County, IA ranks 198 most-constrained nationally, and 6 of 99 within Iowa. Madison County covers 561 square miles and counts 17,161 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Livingston County, IL and Douglas County, WI 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

Elsewhere in Iowa

Every county in Iowa is on this site, including Fremont County, IA and Harrison County, IA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.