Many things and procedures are involved in construction. These procedures help determine the level of excellence achieved during construction. One of these many procedures is soil testing. Soil testing is a procedure that is done before construction to determine soil attributes. In other words, soil testing gives you an idea of what to expect during construction while proffering a solution to tackle the problems expected during construction.
To further emphasize how essential soil testing is before construction, this article will highlight the importance of this process before construction. Please ensure to read till the end for the many eye-opening information you will discover.
Essence of Soil Testing Before Construction
The importance of soil testing before construction is best explained by the reasons for soil testing in construction. These benefits are:
- Saving costs: As mentioned earlier, soil testing gives you an idea of the challenges to expect during construction and proffers a solution to those challenges. This alone saves you costs because you can spend more on a construction project without soil testing.
- Decipher the soil’s bearing capacity: The bearing capacity is the load the soil can accommodate. Soil testing prevents the construction of a structure that is too heavy for the soil to accommodate, thus, avoiding collapse shortly.
- Determining the soil’s physical and chemical composition: Some soils are acidic, sulfuric, or neutral. Soil testing helps determine this chemical composition to determine the kind of building equipment to use during construction. Soil Testing also gives you an idea of the soil’s strength and more physical compositions.
- Geotechnical investigations help decipher how the soil responds to geological factors like climate change and other natural occurrences. It also gives an idea of how resistant the soil is to land movements, avalanches, earthquakes, etc. These crucial factors inform you of the measures to reinforce the soil.
- Determine the soil’s settlement behavior: We know that soil particles oscillate, and the frequency at which the particles oscillate can increase when influenced by specific factors like construction activities. Soil testing gives you an idea of how the soil particles behave, so you will know the construction methods to employ. Weak soil particles will need construction methods that reduce the stress exerted on the soil while providing reinforced support for the structure being constructed.
- Determine the foundation to be laid: All the information gathered from soil testing will influence the choice of foundation for a construction project because it helps determine the foundation’s depth, pillars’ length, and the challenges experienced when laying the foundation.
- Determine the water table level: When digging a structure’s foundation, you want to avoid digging too close to the water table because the upward movement of water through the soil can affect the foundation. Soil Testing helps determine the depth of the water table level while providing information like the soil’s moisture content and more.
Conclusion
Soil Testing is an essential procedure that should be considered before any construction project. This is considering the degree of information it provides about the soil and how suitable or not it is for the project you want to carry out. Luckily, the details above best highlight how essential soil testing is before construction and why you should not ignore or take it with levity.
