Pocahontas County, IA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Pocahontas County, IA's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Pocahontas County, IA's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 3.43% across 49.8% of the county's surveyed land. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Pocahontas County, IA 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 Pocahontas County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Pocahontas County, IA rating "Moderate", 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Pocahontas County, IA is the 891-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Iowa alone it ranks 63 of 99. The county spans 577 square miles, home to 7,006 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Lane County, KS and Jasper County, GA 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 Iowa

Every county in Iowa is on this site, including Osceola County, IA and Marshall County, IA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.