Oxford County, ME Shrink-Swell Risk

What Oxford County, ME's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Oxford County, ME's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.89% across 97.4% 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 Oxford County, ME 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 Oxford County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Oxford County, ME 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, Oxford County, ME is the 2,944-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Maine alone it ranks 14 of 16. Oxford County covers 2,077 square miles and counts 60,039 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Lake County, CA and Washburn County, WI 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 Maine

Every county in Maine is on this site, including Piscataquis County, ME and Franklin County, ME. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.