Monongalia County, WV Shrink-Swell Risk
Monongalia County, WV's soil, for shrink-swell risk
Low
Monongalia County, WV: USDA's soil survey rates 88.2% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.17% linear extensibility). That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.
What Monongalia County's reading doesn't cover
Two lots a mile apart in Monongalia County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. A site-specific soil report, usually $1,000-$5,000, is what an engineer would actually pull before designing a foundation on a lot in Monongalia County.
What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it
With Monongalia County, WV 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.
Monongalia County's rank among West Virginia counties
Nationally, Monongalia County, WV is the 1,822-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within West Virginia alone it ranks 24 of 55. Monongalia County, WV is 360 square miles with a population of 108,697.
See how another county compares
Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Henry County, KY and Calhoun County, GA 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 West Virginia
Every county in West Virginia is on this site, including Hampshire County, WV and Brooke County, WV. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.