Resilience Treatments & Strategies
Soil
Description
Commonly referred to as dirt or earth, soil is the natural granular material that often supports and surrounds your building’s foundations. There are many types, grouped by size (e.g., coarse- or fine-grained), organic content, plasticity, minerology, and other factors. All of this affects how solidly the soil can support your building and other loads. Soil types are often referred to by their classification by size distribution according to ASTM standards.
Typical risk factor of this component:
Moderate
Exposure to the elements for soil depends on its cover, but generally the likelihood of failure at a typical site in the Texas Gulf Coast region is moderate. The impact of failure on the building is likely to be high.
Typical Damages from Floods or Hurricanes
- Erosion, scouring
- Swelling, shrinking
- Site elements settling unevenly from the building
- Uprooted trees
Other common conditions contributing to vulnerability towards floods or hurricanes
- Exposed topsoil (e.g., no vegetation covering such as grass)
- Soil prone to washout because of its type (e.g., high in sand content)
- Soil shrinks/swells due to moisture fluctuations because of its type (e.g., high in clay content)
- Downspouts missing or do not lead directly to splash blocks or a subgrade drainage system
- No way of directing water away from building
Resilience Treatments and Strategies
In-house
Plant and maintain light vegetation (e.g., grass) to cover and hold the soil around the building.
Irrigate soil if shrinking excessively and if watering is allowed (under drought conditions).
Professional needed [type]
Regrade the site to direct water away from the property (if legal for your local jurisdiction) [landscape architect or civil engineer].
Add major landscape elements (e.g., paving, retaining walls, trees) to keep soil in place (may impact the site’s integrity) [landscape architect or civil engineer].
Replace soil surrounding the building [civil engineer].
Soil
Description
Commonly referred to as dirt or earth, soil is the natural granular material that often supports and surrounds your building’s foundations. There are many types, grouped by size (e.g., coarse- or fine-grained), organic content, plasticity, minerology, and other factors. All of this affects how solidly the soil can support your building and other loads. Soil types are often referred to by their classification by size distribution according to ASTM standards.
Typical risk factor of this component:
Moderate
Exposure to the elements for soil depends on its cover, but generally the likelihood of failure at a typical site in the Texas Gulf Coast region is moderate. The impact of failure on the building is likely to be high.
Typical Damages from Floods or Hurricanes
- Erosion, scouring
- Swelling, shrinking
- Site elements settling unevenly from the building
- Uprooted trees
Other common conditions contributing to vulnerability towards floods or hurricanes
- Exposed topsoil (e.g., no vegetation covering such as grass)
- Soil prone to washout because of its type (e.g., high in sand content)
- Soil shrinks/swells due to moisture fluctuations because of its type (e.g., high in clay content)
- Downspouts missing or do not lead directly to splash blocks or a subgrade drainage system
- No way of directing water away from building
Resilience Treatments and Strategies
In-house
Plant and maintain light vegetation (e.g., grass) to cover and hold the soil around the building.
Irrigate soil if shrinking excessively and if watering is allowed (under drought conditions).
Professional needed [type]
Regrade the site to direct water away from the property (if legal for your local jurisdiction) [landscape architect or civil engineer].
Add major landscape elements (e.g., paving, retaining walls, trees) to keep soil in place (may impact the site’s integrity) [landscape architect or civil engineer].
Replace soil surrounding the building [civil engineer].