How To Read Soil Test Report?

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

We are in the process of buying a vacant lot. The soil testing company just did the boring of 3 holes, two 20' deep for main house, and one 15' deep for the garage. Today they provided a draft boring log -- the full report will become available next week.

In the draft log, I saw the word "poor" mentioned many times, but not sure if I should be concerned since I really don't know how to interpret it (attached at the end). The soil testing company did comment that "there will be an approximate 7 foot soil correction, but if the home will have a basement, so removal of most, if not all, of the corrections will be incidental to construction."

The water table appears to be about 10' below the surface, so I assume we couldn't excavate any deeper than that. Does this water table sound high though? I imagine in rainy or snow thawing season, the water table will rise quite a bit.

Finally, who should we talk to regarding the soil quality? The architect? Or a structural engineer?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

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Comments (5)

PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
7 years ago
It sounds like you need to wait for the final soils report and read it in its entirety.

Your architect should receive a copy as should your structural engineer.

Follow up with a meeting to discuss strategies for design and construction.

Good luck!
Sophie thanked Virgil Carter Fine Art
Sophie
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you! We don't have a structural engineer yet, but the architect probably knows someone whom they have a working relationship with.
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PRO
Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
7 years ago
Soils tests & reports are typically prepared by a geotechnical engineer. They would include recommendations for the civil, structural & architect to follow. If you don't understand their report, call them first. Local structural should be familial with local soils also.
zmith
7 years ago
“Poorly graded sand” means the grain sizes are fairly uniform. The report will interpret the data for you, and as Jeffrey stated, will give the foundation and below grade recommendations for the different discipline designs.
just_janni
7 years ago
it says you have to go down 7' to get to undisturbed / solid ground for footings (at least) - if you have a basement - that's not an issue because you'd excavate that anyway - if you don't.... you have to remove a lot of topsoil and change the grade, or bring in significant amounts of fill and backfill / compact to bring the grade back up, or just have super deep footings.