What are some of the building solutions with expansive soil?
The first solution is not to have any expansive or collapsible soils under the slab footprint in the first place! This means pre-pour soil testing and geotechnical assistance to amend or abate the soil, subsoil, site grading and drainage issues, with above-level structural engineering to accommodate the subsoil remediation. If the challenged soils are already there (a defect, but in trying to cope with them) a provisional solution is to keep soils at constant, stable, optimum moisture content, but this is for most applications too precarious of balance to avoid failure or miscalculation over the long term. Intervening weather and casualty incidents have to be assumed on the 30 to 40 year integrity basis. Sudden increases in rainfall and landscape irrigation can be harmful, as can drying due to lack of rainfall or irrigation. Water casualties such as subslab plumbing leaks or other water dispensations have to be assumed. Before construction, if proper protocols are followed, soil sample
