Penobscot County, ME Shrink-Swell Risk

Penobscot County's SSURGO shrink-swell reading

Low

In Penobscot County, ME, 91.9% of the surveyed soil carries a "Low" shrink-swell rating, 1.13% linear extensibility on average. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

Before you rely on this for one address

Penobscot County's reading is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Budgeting for Penobscot County, ME

Penobscot County's soil reading points toward standard foundation practice as the likely outcome, not the exception. 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

Among the 3,085 rated counties on this site, Penobscot County, ME ranks 2,816 most-constrained nationally, and 7 of 16 within Maine. The county spans 3,397 square miles, home to 156,840 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Tripp County, SD and Martin County, MN 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

Elsewhere in Maine

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