The amount of each of the different components in a soil determines the bearing capacity of that soil. If you have a soil that contains a lot of clay and silt, the bearing capacity is much lower than a soil with more sand, gravel and cobbles. Typically, you would like to have your soil to have a bearing capacity between 1200-1500 pounds per square foot . Now, let s talk about how to find what type of soil you have. What you want to do is take a soil test.
Soil tests are simply a test that finds the contents of the soil .
The key to having accurate results is to take all samples from soil has not been touch by any equipment. There are several different types of equipment which are used today to take a sample for you. The first type is hollow stem auger, then spilt tube sampler, and finally osteber piston. Depending on the size and amount of testing to be done to a job site, the cost can range from a couple of hundred dollars to close to a thousand dollars. When you receive your results back from the lab, there are three main things that it will show you.