Champaign County, Illinois
Champaign and Urbana are twin cities on a continuous street grid, not two separate markets. Savoy runs straight into Champaign's south side. The rest of the county is villages and farm ground within about a twenty minute drive of the center.
Century-old block walls downtown, poured-wall ranches in the postwar belt, slab subdivisions on the southwest side.
Local detailThe county's oldest surviving housing, plus interior piers under a lot of pre-1940 girders.
Local detailNewer subdivisions on former row-crop ground, where severed field tile changed where water goes.
Local detailReal slope near the Champaign Moraine crest, walkout basements, and variable subsurface conditions.
Local detailA small older core with tired clay drain tile, ringed by newer builds on flat farm ground.
Local detailOld settlement ground near the Salt Fork timber, with alluvial soils close to the river.
Local detailA dense stock of 1940s to 1970s homes whose original drain systems are at the end of their life.
Local detailVillage lots sitting on some of the most heavily tiled prairie soil in the state.
Local detailLower ground near the Salt Fork, where two houses a few blocks apart can face different water.
Local detailOlder block foundations along the rail corridor, most never re-drained since they were built.
Local detailVillage lots plus acreages, where neighbouring field drainage can change what sits in your yard.
Local detailSmall-village housing on heavily tiled ground, with exterior concrete that takes a winter beating.
Local detailOlder village stock at the edge of the county's more varied terrain near the Sangamon.
Local detailEarly settlement near the Kaskaskia headwaters, with damp crawl spaces in the older houses.
Local detailRoughly 998 square miles, mostly flat till plain, with the population concentrated in the Champaign-Urbana-Savoy core. A contractor based in that core can reach nearly every village in the county inside half an hour, which is why availability in the outlying towns usually depends on scheduling rather than distance.
The soil story is broadly consistent across the county: deep silty clay loam over glacial drift, poorly drained, flat. But there are real exceptions worth knowing. Mahomet sits near the crest of the Champaign Moraine and has genuine slope, which changes how water moves and makes walkout basements common. St. Joseph, Sidney and Sadorus have portions near river corridors where alluvial soils and seasonal water table swings behave differently from upland till.
Age of housing matters as much as geology. Urbana carries more pre-1940 stock and correspondingly more interior pier and crawl space work. Rantoul has a heavy concentration of mid-century homes whose original drain systems are now at the end of their life. Savoy is largely newer construction on former farm ground where severed field tile and uncompacted fill drive the calls.