Otsego County, NY Shrink-Swell Risk

What Otsego County, NY's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Otsego County, NY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.17% across 99.7% 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 Otsego County, NY 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 Otsego County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Otsego County, NY 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.

Otsego County's rank among New York counties

Nationally, Otsego County, NY is the 2,787-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New York alone it ranks 41 of 62. The county spans 1,002 square miles, home to 60,524 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Chicot County, AR and Buchanan 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 New York

Every county in New York is on this site, including Bronx County, NY and Queens County, NY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.