Polk County, WI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Polk County, WI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Polk County, WI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.06% across 99.5% 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 Polk County, WI 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 Polk County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Polk County, WI 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 Polk County, WI compares

Nationally, Polk County, WI is the 2,865-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Wisconsin alone it ranks 55 of 72. Polk County covers 914 square miles and counts 45,831 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Waller County, TX and Golden Valley County, ND 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 Wisconsin

Every county in Wisconsin is on this site, including Pierce County, WI and Iron County, WI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.