Above Photo Of Dunes West Waterfront Lot Taken November 14, 2009. Soil Is Piled On Top Of Building Pad Area For Soil Compression.

Soil surcharging is a site improvement technique that essentially consists of placing soil above the planned building elevation such that the additional soil weight causes the existing soil to consolidate and settle prior to building construction. Geotechnical instrumentation (settlement plates and pore pressure piezometers) are typically used to evaluate the surcharge improvement. A settlement plate is placed in the building area in reference to a known, set elevation so that the settlement created by the surcharge can be monitored over time. Pore pressure piezometers are instruments placed into the softer soil profile at depth in order to evaluate the response of the surcharge on the soil. Once the soil has consolidated (settled) an adequate amount, the surcharge material is removed and the building construction can proceed. This process does not typically adversely effect sites with contaminated soils.