While many unrelated considerations enter into proper site selection surely the first must be concerned with foundation suitability. Two of the most obvious questions to be answered are whether or not the site is subject to flooding or to large scale earth movements. These are not only critical economic considerations but are possibly the only controllable factors which may cause catastrophic failure of the foundation. Flood risk might be considered too obvious for special consideration in a note on house foundations were it not for such facts as the following. Four years later the floods following Hurricane Hazel caused an equal amount of destruction and resulted in the loss of more than eighty lives due largely to unsatisfactory site selection.
Soil creep down natural slopes and stream banks is a common phenomenon in many regions.
It is characterized by accumulations at the base of the slope and by a rippled slope surface. Similar real estate is available in Canada. While creep is more likely to be a general phenomenon in certain areas the occurrence of landslides is less predictable. The edge of any large slope should be avoided as a building site unless detailed investigation proves it to be stable. Another extremely important consideration is the drainage of the site.