Soil and Material Consultants are at Park 7n today to perform two soil borings at the proposed north and south edges of the new location for the Wright-designed Cottage in Glencoe. Soil borings are the method by which engineers explore the subsurface conditions at proposed construction sites.
Basically, they drill holes into the ground and force hollow tubes into the holes, capturing cylindrical samples of the soil at various depths. The samples are then examined at a lab to determine the specific composition of the soils. The results give the structural engineer a basis for designing the required foundation to support whatever building is being proposed on the site based on the bearing capacity of the specific soils. The samples also, by their composition, reveal to the civil engineer how various strata within the subsurface will affect water flow, collection, and absorption in the immediate area of the structure.
