Rio Blanco County, CO Shrink-Swell Risk

What Rio Blanco County, CO's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Rio Blanco County, CO's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.68% across 65.5% of the county's surveyed land. 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.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Rio Blanco County, CO 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 Rio Blanco County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Rio Blanco County, CO 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, Rio Blanco County, CO is the 1,433-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Colorado alone it ranks 20 of 63. Rio Blanco County, CO is 3,221 square miles with a population of 6,607.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Attala County, MS and Boyle County, KY 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 Colorado

Every county in Colorado is on this site, including Yuma County, CO and El Paso County, CO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.