Ouray County, CO Shrink-Swell Risk

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

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Ouray County, CO's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.7% across 63.4% 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 Ouray County, CO at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Ouray County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Ouray 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Ouray County, CO is the 1,413-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Colorado alone it ranks 19 of 63. Ouray County, CO is 541 square miles with a population of 5,197.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Hyde County, NC and Henry 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 Colorado

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