Real Estate and Facilities

Building Project and Procedures Manual

Appendix 5 H

Memorandum Regarding Sub-Surface Soil Investigation

  1. The testing laboratory selected by the architect shall be staffed by at least one full-time professional engineer who specializes in soils engineering and is registered in the State of Georgia.
     
  2. The selection of the testing laboratory, and the laboratory's fee proposal shall be approved by the BOR Office of Facilities prior to performing any sub-surface soil investigation. (See App. 4 C, "Memorandum Regarding Procedure for Procurement of Geotechnical Engineering, Land Surveying and Testing Services.")
     
  3. For GSFIC projects: The certificates found in GSFIC Form No. 513 - "Site Memorandum" (see App. 5 A) must be included in the Soils Engineer's reports and must be executed by him/her. The Soils Engineer's reports, i.e., Stage I and Stage II, containing the certificates specified in GSFIC Form No. 513 must be submitted to Regents' Office at the time the Soils Engineer's statement for services rendered is submitted for payment.
     
  4. The architect shall obtain the recommendations of his/her structural engineer for the purpose of establishing a point of departure for the soils engineer in terms of the number, location and depth of the test borings.
     
  5. The soils engineer is responsible for determining the method and extent of the investigation that is required to obtain sufficient data for determining the basis for foundation design. Therefore, the scope of the Soils engineer's investigation should not necessarily be limited to the recommendations of the architect's structural engineer. The Soils engineer should provide the number and depths of borings as, in his/her opinion, are necessary to secure ample data retarding soil bearing capacity in relation to the loads to be imposed on the foundations.
     
  6. Where extensive sub-surface rock is anticipated, the initial investigation proposed shall include the preparation of a top-of-rock contour map which is produced from seismological or other means of investigation.
     
  7. Rock encountered at boring locations should be cored to a sufficient depth in order to determine its physical properties and to insure that the rock is not merely a shelf or lens.
     
  8. For the Stage II investigation, the architect shall obtain borings at appropriate intervals along the proposed path of utility lines where difficult excavation is anticipated. Utility trenches that extend beyond the boundary lines of the project site shall also be investigated in the Stage II Report.