Vernon County, WI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Vernon County, WI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Vernon County, WI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.39% across 88.5% 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 Vernon County, WI 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 Vernon County, WI 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.

Vernon County's rank among Wisconsin counties

Nationally, Vernon County, WI is the 1,651-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Wisconsin alone it ranks 25 of 72. The county spans 792 square miles, home to 31,351 people.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Giles County, VA and Franklin city, VA 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 Wisconsin

Every county in Wisconsin is on this site, including Sauk County, WI and Bayfield County, WI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.