Building your dream home from scratch can be exciting because it allows you to build your home exactly where you want it on your specific piece of land. It’s also the perfect opportunity to create your home in the shape and size that you want.
However, despite all the positives that go along with building a home from the ground up, you should also be prepared for a few concerns. One of these is determining if your chosen land can bear the load of your home. It’s with this in mind that you need to perform the soil test Melbourne legislation requires.
Understanding What Soil Tests Are
If you’re building anything for the first time, you’ll soon discover that the requirements needed to obtain the necessary building codes center around a series of soil tests and assessments. The results of these mandatory tests will determine whether or not your intended building site is stable enough to withstand the weight of your home, roads, paving, and a stormwater drainage system.
These soil tests are also sometimes called site classifications, and the results of these assessments enable an engineering team to design and select the best foundations, materials, and building techniques to create your structures safely and aligned with local legislation.
During these soil tests, the following key factors are assessed:
- Moisture content (determines how well the ground can absorb water to avoid flooding)
- Soil composition (sand, clay, or rock)
- Soil density (determines load-bearing capacity)
Soil Testing is Key to Ensuring a Stable Structure
Soil testing is an integral part of getting your building permits and also ensuring that any buildings, roads, and drainage systems are designed and built to withstand potential floods, landslides, and even high levels of soil erosion. We’ve compiled a list of the various soil tests that are done in Australia to determine how stable the soil is.
- California Bearing Ratio Test (CBR)
One of the key tests that your geotechnical team will perform is the California Bearing Ratio test, also known simply as CBR. This test is primarily done in spaces where roads, parking areas, and driveways are planned. With a CBR test, soil is tested to measure density and moisture conditions.
To build roads and parking lots, you’ll want an area that has soil with significant CBR values. These areas identify stronger soils that are ideal for heavy loads such as vehicles. In addition to identifying top spots for roads, driveways, and parking lots, the CBR test is also excellent for identifying spaces that hold multiple structures, especially in high rainfall areas.
- Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
A test that’s usually performed on every potential job site is the Standard Penetration Test, or SPT. This test is performed by driving a split-barrel sampler into the ground you’re testing. Your engineering team will then use a drop height and standard hammer weight to create several blows that penetrate the soil at various depths.
With this test, the aim is to determine the soil density and strength of the surrounding ground. Your team will use the results of this test to identify cohesionless and weaker soil, such as gravel and sand. These can make foundations weak.
- Atterberg Limits Test
Any builds that require a paving area will require what’s commonly referred to as an Atterberg Limits Test. In this instance, the plasticity and moisture of the soil need to be assessed to determine how well the ground will hold up under moisture conditions. Key aspects tested here include the following:
- Liquid limit
- Plastic limit
- Shrinkage limit
Doing this specific test identifies whether or not excessive moisture will cause cracks if there’s improper drainage. Test results will help your team choose the best materials to create the strongest foundation for your paving area.
- Permeability Tests
Australia is well known for its crazy weather patterns, and this often includes heavy rains and storms that show up at a whim. In addition to this, increased climate change is causing heavy rainfall in areas that may not have experienced this before.
These factors make it necessary to perform a permeability test. This test typically assesses how effective drainage from excessive rain will be. In places where the soil seems weak, your engineering team will recommend adding reinforcements to strengthen the foundation.
Permeability tests can also assist your team with designing a robust drainage system to reduce the likelihood of moisture build-up and flooding near your foundation. Keep in mind that having water continuously pooling near your foundation can lead to structural damage and costly repairs in the future.
Final Thoughts
The mandated soil tests in Australia are an essential part of getting your building codes and assuring you that your intended building site is safe and stable enough to hold your building. In addition to this, your engineering team will also be able to use the information in these tests to select the best building materials and techniques to design and secure all the structures you may want to build.