Over Digging Creates Foundation Problems
If you're planning on building a new home, make sure that
you or your contractor does not over dig the foundations. This can
create big problems in the future and many homes today suffer from these
types of problems.
Thousands if not millions of homes have been built in the past and
suffer from poor soil compaction. Dirt that was moved from one area to
another, often wasn't compacted like it should have been and this
creates problems for building foundations.
Worse than this is a building contractor or someone working for the
contractor who is digging the foundations for the house, without any
worries about over digging. If they over dig the foundation, they simply
put some dirt back into the bottom of the foundation footings and then
walk over at a couple of times with their feet until it's compacted or
looks good.
Here's what happens, the loose soil that will now be directly under the
structural foundation footings will be compacted only after the
foundation is poured by the weight of the home. This is something that
most building inspectors can't really check and soon the home will be
approved by the building inspector and ready to pour without the
homeowner's knowledge of the problems lurking.
What can you do if the contractor over digs the foundation footings
before they pour the concrete? Instead of refilling the footings with
loose dirt, have made few yards of fill dirt sent out to the project and
then use this to correct your mistakes.
Fill dirt will compact better than regular soil and might even improve
the base of your foundation. Remember, never to refill any footings with
loose soil unless it gets re-compacted somehow.