Basement Construction in Clay Soils

Basement is necessary part of the house. Basement should be given priority while constructing one home. Before establishing the building plan, various measures are to be taken such as checking of soil. Soil testing is done to know the type of soil whether it is sandy, clayey etc. Secondly to find out, ground is compact or not. If the soil is clayey then several precautions are to be taken to avoid any damage to the structure. The basic feature of clay soil is that it holds lot of moisture in it and after a season its moisture reduces to some extent. This change in moisture content could harm the structure build on this clay soil.

Structural damage by clay soil

1. If structure is build on the soil having lot of moisture and after sometime the moisture reduces, the structure could sink at certain depth.
2. If structure is build at the soil having low moisture then due to increase in moisture the structure could raise up. This would lead to cracks formation in the build structure.

Thus there are several measures taken to avoid the change in moisture content of soil. These measures would make the build structure safe from many hazards.

Steps taken safe basement construction from clayey soil

• Make sure that ground is compact enough to prevent ground shifting under the weight of the house.
• To increase stability and control swelling treat the soil with mixture of lime. This lime mixture is added by removing the layer of the soil and adding some trenches under the space for constructing basement or foundation. These trenches are filled by lime mixture. This treatment is done before one month of construction of structure.
• For construction of basement in clayey soil floating walls are recommended. These walls are suspended from first floor and a gap is left between the wall and concrete slap. The purpose of floating walls is to make the soil breathe up and down due to changes in moisture content. Floating walls avoid the cracks formation in the structure.
• When plumbing is done reverse of floating wall is to be done. The walls are attached to the floor and gap is left at its top. Expansion of joints and flex lines are used in basement plumbing.
• To avoid the breakage in pipe the space is to left.

These ideas would make the basement free from affect of moisture content which would lead to severe problems in future.