Phillips County, AR Shrink-Swell Risk

What Phillips County, AR's soil means for a foundation

High

USDA's SSURGO data puts Phillips County, AR's soil at "High" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 6.26% across 46.2% of the county's surveyed land. Ground like this needs active moisture control to keep a conventional foundation from cracking - it's not automatic either way.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Phillips County, AR 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 Phillips County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

Given Phillips County's rating, spending a few thousand now is the way to avoid spending tens of thousands later. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Phillips County's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.

How Phillips County, AR compares

Nationally, Phillips County, AR is the 103-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Arkansas alone it ranks 5 of 75. The county spans 690 square miles, home to 14,661 people.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Weston County, WY and McCreary County, KY are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · The warning signs of expansive-clay damage, explained

More of Arkansas

Every county in Arkansas is on this site, including Sebastian County, AR and Sevier County, AR. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.