Soil Boring For The Home
Growing a successful garden that produces a bountiful harvest takes plenty of sunshine, water, and diligent weeding, but the quality of your soil is another key piece of the garden puzzle. Adding on to your home or building additional structures is another reason why soil samples are necessary. Soil boring is a process that removes a portion of soil to determine if it's rich in essential nutrients, if it has the proper pH for growing your crops, or if it can support the weight of a structure. You can collect your own soil samples with a simple do-it-yourself soil boring process, or you can hire a professional to come collect the samples, as well as test them and provide you with accurate, comprehensive results.
Do-It-Yourself Boring for a Home Garden
Boring is a term that refers to drilling down several inches or feet to collect a core of soil. This core of soil is used to represent the entire garden area so you get a clear idea what changes you need to make, if any, to encourage plentiful crops. If you have a small garden, one or two samples will be enough to get a good idea of soil quality and pH level. Use a handheld auger to collect the samples. These tools are available at nursery and garden stores. If you're planning a large garden, consider composite soil samples, which are samples taken in various locations to ensure that the entire area has the same kind of soil. Home and garden stores sell pH kits that you can use to test your own soil. The stores also sell treatments, such as mineral rich soil or manure, that you can till into the existing soil to make it more hospitable to garden life.
Asking for Professional Help
If soil pH doesn't seem to be the problem, you can send your soil boring samples to a professional. Contact your local extension service, which are often located at universities, to learn where to send your samples. Most likely, you'll need to collect your samples, place them in clean jars and send them to the extension service for results.
Soil Boring for Home Foundation
Another reason for soil boring on the site of a home is that proper soil is essential for supporting the foundation of a home or other structure. If you're adding on to your home or building a structure, such as a garage, soil boring is an essential step in the process. You'll need to hire a professional (such as Uni Tech Drilling Company Inc.) to do this job because they'll need to test for soil density and compaction, things that the average homeowner shouldn't do on their own. Once the results come back, you'll get recommendations to amend the soil, if necessary, before starting your building project.