St. Lawrence County, NY Shrink-Swell Risk

What St. Lawrence County, NY's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts St. Lawrence County, NY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.95% across 86.9% 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 St. Lawrence County, NY 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 St. Lawrence County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With St. Lawrence County, NY 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.

St. Lawrence County's rank among New York counties

Nationally, St. Lawrence County, NY is the 2,025-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New York alone it ranks 12 of 62. St. Lawrence County covers 2,680 square miles and counts 106,198 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. King George County, VA and Tarrant County, TX 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 New York

Every county in New York is on this site, including Columbia County, NY and Madison County, NY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.