Taylor County, WV Shrink-Swell Risk

Taylor County, WV's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Taylor County, WV: USDA's soil survey rates 82% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.25% 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 Taylor County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Taylor County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Taylor County will actually do.

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Taylor County, WV 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 Taylor County, WV compares

Nationally, Taylor County, WV is the 1,761-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within West Virginia alone it ranks 21 of 55. Taylor County, WV is 173 square miles with a population of 16,438.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Henry County, TN and Lorain County, OH 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 West Virginia

Every county in West Virginia is on this site, including Wayne County, WV and Logan County, WV. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.