There are so many types of engineering but Geotechnical Engineering is one that can help in building homes. This is actually a branch of civil engineering which is concerned with the engineering behavior of different earth materials. Geotechnical Engineering uses the principles of both soil mechanics and rock mechanics when investigating subsurface materials and conditions.
What Are Soil Examinations
When it comes to construction and building homes, one of the things that need to be done is a Geotechnical Engineering soil examinination. After finding somewhere to build a new house or set of homes, you first need to make sure that the soil you are going to be building on will properly support the house or houses for the forseeable future. For this job you need to find a Geotechnical engineering company that is able to provide you with qualified soil engineers who can analyse the soil. After the analysis the engineer will be able to tell you whether or not the soil meets the standards for the particular building plans.
Soil Testing – Soil Bores And Probes
Before you start the digging for the foundations, you need to do initial soil testing with soil borings. A large boring machine will be used to bore holes right down to the depth of the footings. Some of the soil is then removed and sent to a lab to be analysed with special geotechnical engineering software. This initial soil boring analyse is an effective way to be able to find out what the subsurface of the ground looks like before you start the build.
If the boring test comes back as good then once the foundations have been dug out the Geotechnical Engineering soil examination can take place. It has to be done after the digging of the foundation and before the footing is formed. The engineer will examine and probe the soil in all the spots under the house footings. He will them give you his evaluation report outlining if the soil has the correct bearing capacity.
When you are getting the soil examined, the soil engineer will require your building plans. The building plan will show him the width and the depth of the footings you are working on for the project. He will look at the plan and using specific soil design criteria he will check that the size of the footings are correct.
What Next?
What if the soil turns out to be no good? If the soil examination reveals that the soil is bad, the Geotechnical Engineering Consultants will be able to give you some recommendations and suggestions in how to fix those soil spots that are not right. Some of the possible suggestions that they might give can include:
* Installation of wider or thicker footings
* Remove the bad soil spot and replace it with stone.
Obviously if the soil is bad than any suggestions from the consultants could have an impact on your budget for the build.