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. This is important in civil engineering because it uses principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics in investigating subsurface materials and conditions.
When it comes to construction and building homes, one of the things that need to be done is a Geotechnical Engineering soil check. In constructing homes, you have to make sure that the soil will properly support your home for the next years to come. You can look for a geotechnical engineering company or geotechnical engineering firms that will provide you with good soil engineers to perform their job so that you will have a peace of mind and you will be able to sleep at night without worrying if the ground underneath your home meets the standards for the particular plan.
The Geotechnical Engineering soil check has to be done and completed after digging for the foundation and before the footing is formed. You can also include a day in your schedule where you can ask the engineer to check your new home site. The engineer has to check all spots under the house footings for a proper bearing capacity. The engineer also has to check the soil and then probe it. Then he will come up with an evaluation.
Before digging for the foundation, soil testing needs to be done with soil borings. A large machine is used to bore holes to the depth of the footings. Soil is then removed and analyzed in the lab using a geotechnical engineering software. This soil boring is actually an effective way to be able to determine the looks of the subsurface ground. But then, these borings and testing are usually expensive and will cost thousands of dollars.
In soil check services, you must not forget to give your house plan to the person who is performing the Geotechnical Engineering soil check. The house plan shows the width and the depth of the footings for the home. A particular soil design criteria will be used to size these footings on your house plan. If you want to know the criteria used for your home, it is best if you check with the plan designer.
What if the soil turns out to be bad? If the soil check shows that the soil is bad, geotechnical engineering consultants and professionals will give recommendations and suggestions in fixing any soil spots that are questionable. Some possible suggestions that they will give include: installing wider or thicker footings and removing the bad soil spot and replace them with stone. But then, you have to analyze any suggestion coming from the professionals and consultants for you to see if it will have an impact on your budget. Extra stone and concrete would mean that you need to spend more dollars.