Wapello County, IA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Wapello County, IA's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Wapello County, IA's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 4.99% across 65.8% of the county's surveyed land. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Wapello County, IA at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Wapello County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Wapello County, IA rating "Moderate", 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 Wapello County, IA compares

Nationally, Wapello County, IA is the 293-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Iowa alone it ranks 21 of 99. The county spans 432 square miles, home to 35,681 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Telfair County, GA and Okmulgee County, OK 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 Iowa

Every county in Iowa is on this site, including Franklin County, IA and Ida County, IA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.