Richmond city, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

Richmond city, VA's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Richmond city, VA: USDA's soil survey rates 90.3% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.87% 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 Richmond city's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Richmond city can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Richmond city will actually do.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Richmond city, VA 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Richmond city, VA is the 2,104-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 90 of 114. Richmond city, VA is 60 square miles with a population of 233,655.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Coke County, TX and Tangipahoa Parish, LA 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 Virginia

Every county in Virginia is on this site, including Northumberland County, VA and Shenandoah County, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.