Mesa County, CO Shrink-Swell Risk

What Mesa County, CO's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Mesa County, CO's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.33% across 72.2% 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 Mesa County, CO 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 Mesa County, CO 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.

How Mesa County, CO compares

Nationally, Mesa County, CO is the 1,701-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Colorado alone it ranks 33 of 63. The county spans 3,329 square miles, home to 161,260 people.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Carbon County, PA and Harmon County, OK 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 Colorado

Every county in Colorado is on this site, including Otero County, CO and Phillips County, CO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.