Providence County, RI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Providence County, RI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Providence County, RI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.66% across 99.3% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Providence County, RI at once, not any single address. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Providence County, RI 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.

Providence County's rank among Rhode Island counties

Nationally, Providence County, RI is the 3,023-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Rhode Island alone it ranks 1 of 5. The county spans 409 square miles, home to 675,912 people.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Huntingdon County, PA and Big Stone County, MN 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 Rhode Island

Every county in Rhode Island is on this site, including Bristol County, RI and Newport County, RI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.