When you think about it, does soil really have much to do with your home? If soil is tracked into the house, it is quickly swept out or vacuumed. Good soil is commonly thought to be only ideal for planting a garden, bushes, flowers and trees. But did you know that the richness of your soil has a lot to do with how your home will be built and not simply how well your grass will grow?
Why Soil Inspections
Testing your soil can go a long way in saving you financially. The foundation of your home relies heavily on the quality of your soil. This is why Design Tech Homes always conducts soil tests before starting the construction process of a new custom home.
“Soil testing determines what types of soils are present on a particular lot,” said Greg Wisenbaker, site evaluator for Design Tech Homes. “This lets engineers know what type of foundation to design for that particular lot. It creates a site-specific foundation for that homeowner.”
He said the soil can dictate what type of foundation can be laid, as well as how deep piers or pilling needs to be. Soil can also indicate how much uplift movement the ground will have, which can dramatically affect a home. These movements, called shifts, often cause major headaches for homeowners because they consume time and money.
Not only does it inform the engineers how to move forward with establishing the foundation, but according to Wisenbaker, it also can determine if there needs to be any excavation of poor soil.
Inspect Soil Before Buying Land
He said that potential land buyers don’t necessarily need to have the soil inspected before purchase, but that it would be advantageous if they did because it would inform the buyer if they would end up incurring a large cost in construction due to the poor soil condition.
For future homeowners, ensuring your plot of land is ready for construction is pivotal in the process of building a home. This is why at Design Tech Homes, we contract independent licensed engineers to inspect and review the soil of each lot on which we plan to build. It is simply part of our commitment to the quality of our homes.
Need to have your soil inspected? Visit our page explaining how much importance we place on the lot, and not only the home.
