When you’re building a new house, testing the soil is part of the first stage of the entire process. It’s essential to know your soil profile before you sign a building contractor as it can dramatically affect building costs.
Usually, soil is identified in accordance with Australian Standard 2870 and refers to soil’s reaction with moisture and, therefore, how much movement can be caused.
Soil categories include:
A (Acceptable) – stable and non-reactive with very little or no ground movement
S (Satisfactory) – usually clay sights with slight ground movement
M (Moderate) – usually clay or silt sites with moderate ground movement
H (High) – usually clay sites with high amounts of ground movement
E (Extreme) – extremely reactive sites
P (Problem) – very soft soils which can lead to very severe amounts of ground movement
Testing soil can help you to determine how much a new building will cost you and enable you to change the design and engineering of your house plans to overcome any potential dangers that could arise.