The biggest threat to your home’s foundation is expansive soil. As a matter of fact, not only is your foundation in danger, if nothing is done about expansive soil, your entire house could suffer some serious damage. You might be wondering why expansive soils are used if they are so harmful.
If you look it up on a map with the necessary data, you’ll notice that Indiana’s natural terrain doesn’t have a lot of clay soil. And yet, it is still used when building houses. The truth is, expansive soils are widely preferred in the construction trade due to the many advantageous properties they have. In many instances, they are even more beneficial than other, less expansive soils.
Expansive Soils
When laying down soil as a foundation, it’s important for the workers to be compacted. This means it needs to be firmly pressed together until all the air is displaced. Compaction makes the soil denser and tougher in order to make a suitable foundation for a house. Expansive soils, because of their clay content, compact a lot easier than other types of soils.
This makes expansive soils great for foundations. Not only are they denser than other soils once compacted, but they are also a lot easier to manipulate. Expansive soils only need to be compacted once before it’s ready while other soils need to be pressed multiple times. Using clay soils saves time during a construction job, which is why it is widely preferred by site managers.
Other Soils
Gravel and sand, other materials frequently used as the foundation, may seem like a more attractive option because they don’t expand and shrink as readily as clay soils. This is because of their lack of clay. However, this plus comes with a negative.
Because they don’t compact well, other soils are a lot looser and give way a lot easier. The Midwest is prone to powerful earthquakes, even if they do occur infrequently. This means that any gravel and sand in your foundation shifts around significantly, which causes settling anyway.