Pitt County, NC Shrink-Swell Risk

What Pitt County, NC's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Pitt County, NC's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.07% across 77.3% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Pitt County, NC 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 Pitt County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Pitt County, NC 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.

Pitt County's rank among North Carolina counties

Nationally, Pitt County, NC is the 1,909-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within North Carolina alone it ranks 33 of 100. Pitt County, NC is 652 square miles with a population of 180,783.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Edmunds County, SD and Morgan County, CO 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 North Carolina

Every county in North Carolina is on this site, including Cumberland County, NC and Gates County, NC. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.