Vance County, NC Shrink-Swell Risk

What Vance County, NC's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Vance County, NC's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.1% across 87.5% 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 Vance County, NC at once, not any single address. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Vance County, NC 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Vance County, NC is the 1,892-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within North Carolina alone it ranks 31 of 100. Vance County covers 252 square miles and counts 42,337 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Chemung County, NY and Meeker County, MN 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 North Carolina

Every county in North Carolina is on this site, including Perquimans County, NC and Polk County, NC. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.