Pickens County, AL Shrink-Swell Risk

What Pickens County, AL's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Pickens County, AL's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.33% across 86% 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 Pickens County, AL 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 Pickens County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Pickens County, AL 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.

How Pickens County, AL compares

Nationally, Pickens County, AL is the 1,705-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Alabama alone it ranks 19 of 67. Pickens County, AL is 881 square miles with a population of 18,508.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Chesterfield County, VA and Essex County, VT 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 Alabama

Every county in Alabama is on this site, including Baldwin County, AL and Jackson County, AL. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.