Washington County, WI Shrink-Swell Risk

Washington County, WI's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Washington County, WI: USDA's soil survey rates 84% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.06% linear extensibility). That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

What Washington County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Washington 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 Washington 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.

How Washington County, WI compares

Nationally, Washington County, WI is the 1,927-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Wisconsin alone it ranks 32 of 72. Washington County covers 431 square miles and counts 138,727 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Rich County, UT and Cottonwood 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 Wisconsin

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