Carrying capacity of soils

Planning a house is an important and responsible job that requires certain skills. When creating a house project, you must consider a number of factors that can affect the entire workflow.

What should I take into account first of all?

It is important to know that the load-bearing capacity of soils is the main characteristic, indicating the degree of loading that a unit of ground area can withstand. As a rule, it is measured in t / m2 or kg / cm2. This indicator allows you to determine what properties should have a base area of the foundation.

As a rule, three main soil characteristics are determined, which affect its bearing capacity. This is the saturation of the soil with moisture, its compactness and type.

Bearing capacity of soils is significantly reduced with increasing humidity. Only properties of medium-sized sands remain unchanged. About excessive moisture can speak a high level of groundwater. In such cases it is not at all necessary to resort to the help of geologists, because this indicator can be determined independently. It is necessary to dig a pit with a depth of 2 m (or drill a hole with an earth drill) with a shovel, this will be enough to determine the type of soil and the degree of its moisture.

You can determine the type of soil by eye. Recognize the sand will not be difficult for anyone. Loam is plastic and contains up to 30% clay particles, sandy loam is a more fragile material and easily crumbles when applying the slightest pressure to the ball, but clay is the most plastic soil and when compressed it turns into a flat cake. By the amount of water content in the excavated pit, it is possible to determine the moisture content of the earth and the proximity of the location of groundwater.

Also, the bearing capacity includes soil density indices . However, this value can not be called constant. The layer of soil under the ground is pressured by other layers that are higher, so when it is removed to the surface, its bulk density is much lower. Thus, calculating the bearing capacity, the soil can be considered dense only if it is at a depth of 0.8-1 m.

It should be noted that studies are not always carried out, therefore, to simplify the calculations, it is generally assumed that the load-bearing capacity of soils is 2 kg / cm2.

However, when preparing for construction, the soil does not always correspond to the indicators needed to establish the foundation in accordance with the project of the building. Modern technologies have made it possible to influence the quality of the soil, so there are a number of technologies that are being taken to strengthen it.

Developers simply need to implement measures that provide protection and strengthening of soils. First of all, protection is required to prevent wind, water and mechanical soil erosion.

To strengthen the soil, there are several most common technologies, for example, increasing the mechanical properties, which is implemented by introducing special elements in the soil structure (called reinforcement). It is also possible to conduct chemical strengthening of soils, which is achieved by converting their composition through the treatment with chemical reagents. The use of binding materials, such as tar, bitumen, cement, organic and mineral waste, also contributes to the consolidation of soils.

It is important to understand that after the construction of the house is completed, its shrinkage may occur, under the weight of the entire structure and from the subsidence of the foundation. Uneven loads often cause cracks, which subsequently leads to the destruction of the whole building. Far from always the low load-carrying capacity of soils is the main reason, which can lead to such consequences. However, in order to correctly choose the type of foundation, this value must be taken into account first.