Mendocino County, CA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Mendocino County, CA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Mendocino County, CA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.77% across 54.4% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Mendocino County, CA 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 Mendocino County, CA 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.

Mendocino County's rank among California counties

Nationally, Mendocino County, CA is the 1,363-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within California alone it ranks 32 of 58. Mendocino County covers 3,507 square miles and counts 89,175 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Greene County, NC and Palo Alto County, IA 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 California

Every county in California is on this site, including San Luis Obispo County, CA and Humboldt County, CA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.