Montgomery County, NC Shrink-Swell Risk

What Montgomery County, NC's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Montgomery County, NC's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.1% across 86.7% 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 Montgomery County, NC at once, not any single address. 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 Montgomery County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Montgomery County, NC 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 Montgomery County, NC compares

Nationally, Montgomery County, NC is the 1,893-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within North Carolina alone it ranks 32 of 100. Montgomery County, NC is 492 square miles with a population of 26,364.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK and Bath County, KY 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 North Carolina

Every county in North Carolina is on this site, including Yancey County, NC and Transylvania County, NC. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.