A construction project is only as good as the ground upon which it stands. Without proper stabilization of the soil, buildings, roads, levees, parking lots and more are at risk of becoming structurally deficient over time. Properly stabilized soils also help reduce the long-term maintenance costs of the finished project. Contractors who pay attention to soil stabilization techniques also ensure faster timelines and less material waste, which adds up to significant savings.
Contractors working on virtually any type of project need to be aware of the importance of soil stabilization before they begin. Otherwise, all their hard work could be for nothing.
What Is Soil Stabilization?
Simply put, stabilization is the process of preparing the earth underneath a project to make it stronger. This is especially important in areas where the subgrade may be excessively wet or soft.
Typical chemical soil stabilization procedures involve spreading a stabilizing agent — such as lime kiln dust (LKD0, cement, soil cement, or fly ash — and mixing it with the soil to reduce its moisture content and improve strength. From there, crews work to compact the earth and grade it is using heavy equipment. The result is a strong, consistent subgrade that provides greater stability and resistance to shrinking and swelling.
In addition to chemical stabilization, mechanical soil stabilization techniques also may be used, depending on the site conditions. These involve working the ground with specialized equipment to change its physical properties.
What Are the Advantages of Soil Stabilization?
Among the many benefits of soil stabilization is the fact that builders can be confident that their sites will be compacted properly, providing a reliable platform for building pads, parking lots, and roads. Stabilization improves the shear strength of the soil to give it higher load-bearing capacity, and can often reduce the thickness of your structural cross sections saving your project from over-spending on aggregate base or surface pavements
Removing excess moisture from the earth also helps control the shrink-swell cycle that can lead to buckling or sinking, depending on the conditions. With stabilization, you are more likely to have solid subgrade construction that can be counted on to last a long time.
Stabilizing soil also ensures projects have a much better chance of meeting environmental regulations that might be in play. It can be an essential strategy for reducing ecological disturbance, satisfying erosion control plans, and obtaining storm water permits.
Planning for soil stabilization as early in the project as possible is essential. For example, integrating stabilization with the grading process means a smoother and less cumbersome process than relying on ad-hoc solutions after the fact while other phases of construction should be underway.
Rock Solid Stabilization & Reclamation is proud to provide soil stabilization services and more for a wide range of projects. To learn more about our capabilities including full depth reclamation and how we can help with your next project, reach out and speak with one of our representatives today.
What is the difference between Soil Stabilization and Soil Modification?
Both help improve the construction schedule. Soil stabilization makes your sub-grade more rain resistant; the stabilized soil will remain strong through rain events and can be worked on soon after they occur. Whereas soil modification is faster and more reliable than disking and drying on projects with tight deadlines. On most projects, soil modification is used prior to top lift stabilization to expedite the mass grading process by quickly reducing moisture of fill soils so they can be compacted efficiently.