Phelps County, MO Shrink-Swell Risk

What Phelps County, MO's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Phelps County, MO's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.1% across 84.4% 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 Phelps County, MO 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 Phelps County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Phelps County, MO 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.

Phelps County's rank among Missouri counties

Nationally, Phelps County, MO is the 1,891-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Missouri alone it ranks 92 of 114. Phelps County, MO is 672 square miles with a population of 45,672.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Calhoun County, AL and Wirt County, WV 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 Missouri

Every county in Missouri is on this site, including Osage County, MO and Howard County, MO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.