Home buyers should use this information to further check the site's soil. This may include soil swell potential, observations, soil treatment recommendations, engineering information, building recommendations and construction methods. The goals for soil treatment are to reduce the amount of water that enters the ground near the foundation and to reduce the swell potential of the soil. Contractors may install vertical or horizontal moisture barriers to protect the foundation. In this case, the homeowner should know where the barriers are and should not irrigate inside them.
Normal Gardening can occur outside the barriers.
Both have landscape implications. Engineered fills include replacing existing soil with an impermeable soil or compacting the soil. Contractors may replace the top 3 to 4 feet of soil with a nonexpansive, impermeable soil. In this case, the main landscaping problem is dealing with a soil that does not take in water. The normal treatment for impermeable soil is to increase permeability with soil amendments.