Meade County, KY Shrink-Swell Risk

What Meade County, KY's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Meade County, KY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.45% across 76.3% 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 Meade County, KY 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 Meade County, KY 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, Meade County, KY is the 1,602-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Kentucky alone it ranks 63 of 120. Meade County, KY is 305 square miles with a population of 30,442.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Fort Bend County, TX and Jefferson County, OH 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 Kentucky

Every county in Kentucky is on this site, including Menifee County, KY and Perry County, KY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.