Sauk County, WI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Sauk County, WI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Sauk County, WI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.3% across 73.1% 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 Sauk County, WI at once, not any single address. 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 Sauk County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Sauk County, WI 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 Sauk County, WI compares

Nationally, Sauk County, WI is the 1,722-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Wisconsin alone it ranks 30 of 72. Sauk County covers 832 square miles and counts 66,486 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Falls Church city, VA and Tillman County, OK 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 Wisconsin

Every county in Wisconsin is on this site, including Monroe County, WI and Price County, WI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.