WHAT WE DO WHEN TAKING A SOIL SAMPLE
A geotechnical report is required for a foundation design. If a geotechnical engineer has not been contracted, you may contact us to schedule a site soil investigation (SSI) after the building footprint area has been cleared, graded, leveled, and marked. AES will go out to the project site and observe the topography of the lot, soil, trees, any cuts in the streets or utility cuts in the lot, whether the lot has fill material on it, and whether the lot has indications of having had a cut-and-fill process to level the lot. In the building pad area, we collect a soil sample(s) at a depth of approximately 18-24 inches, conduct a depth-to-bedrock probe down to approximately 48 inches maximum depth, and measure the ground surface slope(s). The SSI includes the soil sample analysis conducted by a geotechnical engineering lab. This site visit is usually scheduled within two (2) business days from the date of the job order.
The SSI is a very limited site investigation providing information useful to us in the design of your foundation. The SSI is not intended to be a “full geotechnical study” and is only useful in combination with our foundation design procedures and methodology.
