Queens County, NY Shrink-Swell Risk

Queens County, NY's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Queens County, NY: USDA's soil survey rates 100% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (0.68% linear extensibility). 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.

What Queens County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Queens County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. 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 Queens County.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Queens County, NY 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 Queens County, NY compares

Nationally, Queens County, NY is the 3,018-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New York alone it ranks 59 of 62. Queens County covers 109 square miles and counts 2,316,841 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Ohio County, KY and Barnes 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 New York

Every county in New York is on this site, including Steuben County, NY and Washington County, NY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.