Why You Need Boring Tests
When you deal with soil and construction, you need to get something called a soil boring or boring test. These tests involve boring into the soil and taking out samples so that you can evaluate whether the soil is good for building, burying a septic tank, and more. Do not skip these tests. If you do, you could find very unpleasant surprises when you go to start your construction or other work.
Testing Stability
One of the main reasons for completing the soil boring tests early on is that the tests will show if the soil is stable enough to build on. If you've been planning your dream home, the last thing you need is to find out the soil is not good for building upon right when you're about to start building. Stability issues can range from previously unknown faults to underground water sources creating erosion (you don't want to risk a sinkhole swallowing your house). There may be buried debris that, when dug up, requires more soil to be added to fill the space left behind. No matter the cause, unstable soil will make it difficult to build a structure.
Soil Contamination
Another reason for soil boring is to test for contamination. For all you know, an old septic tank lies buried and broken under that cheap land you're looking to buy. Waste from the tank would contaminate the soil and make it unsuitable for landscaping and gardening with any edible plants, and you'd have to take special precautions if you were to walk around on the soil so that you didn't track it back inside. It wouldn't be very nice building a home on soil that you couldn't let your kids or pets play on because of contamination.
That Bedrock Is Closer Than You Thought
One more reason to get the soil boring tests done is that you really don't know what's under the surface. You could have fantastic soil that drains well and that is very stable and healthy -- or you could hit bedrock a lot sooner than you thought possible. Imagine trying to install a foundation and basement only to find that you're hitting rock a lot higher than you thought you would. With the boring tests, you'll know early on what's going on with the soil.
Sometimes there are ways to mitigate problems so that you can go ahead and start building. However, you won't know if you need these until you get those soil boring tests done, so do those as soon as you can.
For more information, talk to a professional like Uni Tech Drilling Company Inc.
