Suffolk city, VA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Suffolk city, VA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Suffolk city, VA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2% across 89.6% 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 Suffolk city, 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 Suffolk city.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Suffolk city, 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 Suffolk city, VA compares

Nationally, Suffolk city, VA is the 1,980-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 79 of 114. The county spans 399 square miles, home to 103,105 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Murray County, GA and Montgomery County, MO 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 Smyth County, VA and Buchanan County, VA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.