Rock County, NE Shrink-Swell Risk

What Rock County, NE's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Rock County, NE's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.57% across 99.1% 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 Rock County, NE 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 Rock County, NE 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, Rock County, NE is the 3,043-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Nebraska alone it ranks 84 of 93. Rock County, NE is 1,008 square miles with a population of 1,241.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Ray County, MO and Itasca 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 Nebraska

Every county in Nebraska is on this site, including Madison County, NE and Clay County, NE. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.