Seward County, KS Shrink-Swell Risk

What Seward County, KS's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Seward County, KS's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.34% across 68% 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 Seward County, KS 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 Seward County, KS 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, Seward County, KS is the 1,698-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Kansas alone it ranks 101 of 105. Seward County, KS is 640 square miles with a population of 21,276.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Butte County, ID and Hand County, SD 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 Kansas

Every county in Kansas is on this site, including Wyandotte County, KS and Osage County, KS. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.