Stafford County, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Stafford County, VA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Stafford County, VA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.16% across 75.8% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Stafford County, VA 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 Stafford County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Stafford 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.

How Stafford County, VA compares

Nationally, Stafford County, VA is the 1,831-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 64 of 114. Stafford County, VA is 268 square miles with a population of 168,919.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Taylor County, FL and Slope County, ND 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 Wise County, VA and Russell County, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.