Spotsylvania County, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

Spotsylvania County, VA's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Spotsylvania County, VA: USDA's soil survey rates 69.7% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.26% 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 Spotsylvania County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Spotsylvania County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Spotsylvania County, 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.

Spotsylvania County's rank among Virginia counties

Nationally, Spotsylvania County, VA is the 1,746-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 57 of 114. Spotsylvania County, VA is 402 square miles with a population of 152,021.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Alamosa County, CO and Pershing County, NV 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 Greensville County, VA and Warren County, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.