Do ADU / Garage Conversions Need A Geotechnical Soil Report?
Many people looking to start a new home construction project are surprised to find out that they need a geotechnical engineering report. The reason? You don’t want to be building your home’s foundation on just any soil.
Starting Off On The Right Foundation
New home construction is an exciting time for anyone jumping into such a project. Dreaming of your future ideal home — one that you not only found, but are actively involved in designing and implementing — can be an intoxicating experience. But before you get swept away in the excitement of home building, you need to make sure that you’re doing your due diligence to make sure that the construction (and the next several decades of home ownership) goes smoothly.
One of the most critical aspects of new home construction can be the geotechnical engineer’s soil analysis determining whether the soil is appropriate to support the foundation of the new house. If homes are built on substandard footings, the entire structure can actually settle much farther down than is safe — or sustainable. This can result in foundation separation, and other major issues that can cause serious and expensive headaches for years to come. A house is not something that should be built on a foundation that’s “probably okay” — it’s a life-altering decision that will affect you, your finances, future buyers, and future inhabitants.
Ultimately, it’s up to the geotechnical engineer to determine the feasibility of the soil in the home lot. Their input is critical in determining whether the area can sustain a complex structure for the next several decades.
The Soil Engineer’s Responsibility
If you need a soil analysis for the purposes of determining home construction feasibility, that’s a task with serious and long-lasting consequences. Investing in a soil analysis is essentially insurance against a massive problem down the line. You need to be sure that the analysis is conducted by a qualified, experienced soil/geotechnical engineer. That expert can provide invaluable insight on what type of foundation design will best interact with the underlying soil, as well as providing the analysis of the soil itself.
In situations with imported soil, soil that exists on a steep grade, or other “non-standard” types of environs, an experienced soil engineer can help you customize a solution that ensures your dream house doesn’t turn into a property nightmare by the time you’ve lived in it for a few years. If you’re ready to start your home building project, don’t take another step until you’ve had the soil analyzed by a veteran soil engineer like the ones at AES Soil.
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