Montgomery County, PA Shrink-Swell Risk

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

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Montgomery County, PA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.83% across 88.1% 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 Montgomery County, PA 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 Montgomery County, PA 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, Montgomery County, PA is the 2,132-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Pennsylvania alone it ranks 11 of 67. Montgomery County, PA is 483 square miles with a population of 879,190.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Clare County, MI and Emmet 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 Pennsylvania

Every county in Pennsylvania is on this site, including Cumberland County, PA and Columbia County, PA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.