Valley County, ID Shrink-Swell Risk

Valley County, ID's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Valley County, ID: USDA's soil survey rates 65.8% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.41% 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 Valley County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Valley 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 Valley County, ID 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.

Valley County's rank among Idaho counties

Nationally, Valley County, ID is the 1,639-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Idaho alone it ranks 17 of 44. The county spans 3,665 square miles, home to 12,777 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK and Lawrence County, MS 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 Idaho

Every county in Idaho is on this site, including Camas County, ID and Minidoka County, ID. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.