Washington County, FL Shrink-Swell Risk

What Washington County, FL's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Washington County, FL's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.11% across 99.1% 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 Washington County, FL 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 Washington County, FL 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, Washington County, FL is the 2,831-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Florida alone it ranks 30 of 66. Washington County, FL is 585 square miles with a population of 26,503.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Alcorn County, MS and Musselshell County, MT 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 Florida

Every county in Florida is on this site, including Walton County, FL and Hamilton County, FL. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.