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The vanguard of the baby boomers have reached their eighth decade.  We have to face the fact that we are aging.  For the most part, I’ve been quite fortunate.  I have no diabetes nor heart disease.  Up until the time I have turned seventy, I would claim that I was as tough as any twenty-five year old.  I can ride a bike for miles.  I typically hike on wilderness trails for hours at a time.  Kandy and I walk around the neighborhood two miles every weekday morning.  I’ve been able to dig ditches and chop wood with little difficulty.

That is, until I turned seventy.  Things started to take a turn. Five or six years ago, the nurse told me during a check up that I had “incipient COPD”.  I didn’t take much account of that because I still was able to do all those physical activities I’d been doing.

But then I got a slight cold after Christmas this year, and the congestion wouldn’t go way.  I went to the clinic.  They gave me a breathing treatment and sent me home.

A couple of months later, I find myself in the clinic barely able to keep up with my breathing.  The nurse checked my heart for congestive heart failure.  My heart is still good, but my lungs are in a stage of COPD.  They gave me another breathing treatment and a prescription.

Since then, I’ve been doing okay for the most part.  I still can bike and go on hikes.  But sometimes my breathing is a little short at night and my cough can be chronic.  I can still do much of what I’ve always done, except I’ll no longer claim to be as tough as a twenty-five year old.

When you are in your seventies, it is reality that health can only go in one direction; and that’s down.  We do have a job, though, at this point in time of our lives to remain sufficiently active in order to maintain the best we can.

In our circumstances these days, the temptation for everyone, not just us old boomers, but everyone is to take the easy path at all times.  Why walk when we can drive?  Choosing to do something hard is unthinkable.  When Kandy and I walk in our neighborhood in the mornings, we may encounter one or two other people doing likewise.  We’re in a neighborhood of a thousand or more people!  Is that all the people that take walks?  As I’ve said, it’s too easy to sit on the porch rather than take neighborhood walks.

Since I’m in the habit of walking every day,  I find that a crud of some type starts building up in me when I don’t walk daily for a period of time.  It’s a habit I don’t want to quit.

I still may have COPD.  There is nothing I can do to stop it’s progression.  It’s heredity.  However, I can choose to work at staying in the best shape I can in the meantime.  I choose to take hikes on tough trails.  I’ll walk every day.  It’s our duty as owners of aging bodies to sometimes do what is hard to do.  I seek to maintain a degree of “toughness” for as long as I am able.

I may not be able to do what I did as a twenty-five year old, but that won’t stop me from trying.

For most of us, the day does not begin after sleeping in a nest of leaves under a rock cleft, followed by gathering of tubers and berries from nearby wild vegetation; eaten raw without the benefit of fire’s heat.
No, we have the advantage of thousands of years of creative human endeavor that has rendered our species an ability to thrive beyond the imaginations of our predecessors.
The human legacy is the act of creation. We have the gift of rendering “the invisible to become the visible”.
Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in His own Image, in the Image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
So the Conscious Universe created a creature whose very nature is that of the Eternal Essence. This creature is destined to be a co-creator.
Now this creature is capable of drawing from the Eternal pool of conscious being in order to bring about the attributes of wonder from outside space and time. As a result, he can render what was once a potential to become a reality.
Let’s consider the value of the potential human creativity and his connection with his Eternal nature. Value has to do with the effort and resources that were required to bring about that so called item of value.
Use the perspective of the Conscious Universe. Denote this entity as “He” for brevity.
He has succeeded in the establishment of an aspect of His creation by using His laws of physics combined with aspects of His resources of “Infinity” to bring about a “Big Bang” that took an infinite singularity to an expanding collage of matter and energy.
His initial effort was huge. It took the non-existent invisible to be rendered into the infinite visible. The cost in time to bring this about is in the billions of scalar years.
He was pleased with the visible results of His effort. Great galaxies of huge energy were formed. The wonders of physics were beyond imaginable. His laws of quantum physics allowed events to “collapse” into reality as He observed them.
He yearned for more, though. He brought about all these material attributes that were wonders to behold, but they did not reflect the complete nature of His being.
His creation, to be complete, must reflect his total and true nature. So He embarked upon the most difficult endeavor of all. He began with the initiative germs of Life. It remains a modern mystery as to how He brought about this inconceivable miracle, some how or another. He drew from His pool of Eternity to cross the threshold of the inanatimate to the anatimate.
He used His attributes of emergence. Emergence is the concept of the natural progression of the more simple to the more complex. He invested hundreds of millions of years to this endeavor.
Finally, the emergent nature of life produced a being that had begun to understand the concept of the passage of time. After five or six million years of experimentation, the creative thinking species of humanity came about.
He declared the inception of the human creature as good. The potential to fulfill the ultimate nature of the Conscious Universe in the form of a real touchable visible entity was at hand. He created a visible being that contained the full potential of His own nature.
The potential of a visible consciousness through-out the here-to-fore lifeless Universe was at hand to fill space and time. Eternity was triumphant!
A terrible price had to be paid, though. In order for the new human to fully inherit the role of the visible “Consciousness”, he had to be provided with unlimited choice. No limited attribute of this aspect of nature was acceptable.
At the same time, this physical co-creator’s vision is extremely limited. The task of rendering the invisible to become the visible demands the co-creator to focus his creative attributes on a very limited scope at any one time. His vision, by necessity, must be confined. He can only consider issues on a truncated scale over a concise period of time frame. He is only capable of visualizing tight boundaries.
Yet, he has unlimited choices. Without a firmly established relationship and awareness of the Universal Consciousness, his Creator, his renderings of co-creations can only procure dis-harmony and chaos.
Hence, ambassadors arose to provide examples to the co-creator to provide here-to-fore unseen guidance. By following the guidelines of these Consciosness inspired emissaries, harmonious processes were made possible.
History is repleat with examples of both harmonious and chaotic creations. The key is to seek, and continually seek the guidance of the True Nature of the Conscious Universe.
We humans are often heard repeating the common phrase, “Well, what do you expect? I’m just human.”
“Just human”! After billions of years over the infinity of space, matter, and time that has led to the creation of a living breathing being that immulates the complete Nature of the Conscious Universe, we consider ourselves “just human”! No! We are the infinite potential of the full essence of Eternity in a visible living breathing form! We are the masterpiece!
We now can choose. We can now recognize the Holy potential of our inheritance to grow in our efforts and our relationship with the Eternal; or we can utilize our phenomenal powers to diminish and destroy. It’s all within our grasp, one way or the other.

For the most part, residential construction doesn’t get involved in situations where open trenches and excavations are greater than five feet in depth. However, situations concerning deeper excavations and trenches come into play whenever high retaining walls or formed basement walls are involved. For these reasons, residential home builders should be aware of the regulations and accepted practices in dealing with excavation and trench safety.

The code of federal regulations (CFR) sets forth acceptable related practices under CFR Part 1926.650; Subpart P – Excavations and Trench Safety. These standards are available on-line. These standards apply to all open excavations made on the earth’s surface, including trenches.

This paper is not intended to cover the details of these regulations. It is presented as a general summary regarding what can be anticipated regarding the application of those standards.

All parties who are involved in excavations of any type are responsible for the awareness and knowledge of appropriate excavation standards and procedures.

First of all, excavations must be preceded with proper notification of all owners of possible underground utility facilities.

All excavations of a depth of five feet or greater falls within the jurisdiction of these regulations. Protection of employees in excavations of some approved form is necessary for any and all excavations of depths of five feet or greater.

Several methods of excavation protection systems are depicted by the applicable CFR regulations. These methods are noted.

Allowable Configurations and Slopes – Excavation protections is provided by slopes or benches of depths from zero to twenty feet at a rate of 3/4 horizontal to 1 vertical ratio for Type “A” soils, a rate of 1 horizontal to 1 vertical for Type “B” soils, or 1 1/2 horizontal to 1 vertical for Type “C” soils.

Type “A”, “B”, and “C” soils are described by the regulations, and can be determined at each excavation site by an individual who has been certified to do so. Essentially, Type “A” soils are sound, cohesive, and stiff soils that are undisturbed; Type “B” soils are moderately firm cohesive soils that are undisturbed; and Type “C” soils are non-cohesive, loose, and/or soft soils.

For excavations less than five foot of depth, vertical walls are acceptable as long as the soils are undisturbed an considered competent.

Excavations in stable rock can be cut vertically as long as no falling hazards are anticipated up to depths of twenty feet. All determinations must be provided by a properly certified competent individual.

It is noted that any excavation taken to depths greater than twenty feet must be designed by a qualified professional engineer.

Shields and Shoring – The use of properly designed shields or shores are appropriate for some excavation circumstances. The CFR guidelines provide acceptable configurations for shoring designs.

Shores act to prevent movement of soil excavation walls. Shields are designed to protect personnel from possible excavation wall failure. Shores and shields must also be designed to accommodate the Type “A”, “B”, or “C” soils that may be encountered. Again, any excavation greater than twenty foot of depth must be designed by a qualified professional engineer.

In some configurations, it may be appropriate to use combinations of excavation slope/benches, shores, and/or shields.

Other issues such as egress into and out of the excavation must be satisfied. Confined space considerations may be necessary.

All in all, the supervisor of all excavation operations is responsible for all issues of excavation and trench safety. He is expected to possess the knowledge provided by these applicable codes of federal regulations.

The residential foundation design configurations provided by Tables 401.2(a) and 401.2(b) of the Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual are based primarily on the guidelines offered by the Welded Reinforced Wire Institute’s Concrete Foundation Design Method.

This methodology considers the expansive qualities of the on-site soils as depicted by the “effective plasticity index” of the soils on the proposed building site. This soils information considers the soil classification taken from the surface down to a depth of fifteen feet.

However, the method does not include load factors of soil condition such as moisture content, soil stiffness, or in-place density preparation. These specific factors are considered in the notes of the Manual regarding on-site preparation.

As stated in the Manual, the design criteria presumes uniform structural loadings distributed evenly across the foundation system of 200psf, 275psf, and 350psf for single story, two story, and three story structures, respectively.

For the most part, adherence to the stated Manual foundation design configurations as well as the required site preparation and soil condition criteria should provide for a foundation of adequate performance for the typical foundation structural configuration.

Never-the-less, foundation performance issues can arise under some altered circumstances. Several of the issues brought to mind involves historic examinations of foundation performance problems.

Most of the observed foundation movement problems have to do with perimeter drainage. The Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual stipulates a degree of positive drainage away from the foundation’s perimeter. The idea is to minimize accumulated moisture in the perimeter soils about the structure. However, landscape irrigation or lack of irrigation that is improperly managed creates more problems than does site drainage due to natural precipitation.

Continuous excessive wetting of soils about the perimeter will cause moisture to penetrate perimeter foundation soils well beyond the soil’s initial condition. In expansive soils, this means swelling, or uplift about the perimeter of a lightly loaded residential structure.

The converse is true if the perimeter soils are wetted, then allowed to dry at depth. The perimeter foundation system then shrinks, or settles. The ideal circumstance is to manage the perimeter soils moisture contents at a constant state at all times. Water when needed, but not excessively.

The Manual dictates that water stops be utilized between the construction joints of two pour foundation configurations. This is necessary because perimeter water can easily enter beneath the interior floor slab through the joint between the footing and the slab without water stops.

As previously noted, the Manual foundation design presumes uniform load distributions across the structure. The actual loading conditions across the structure may vary widely from the uniform state. In multi story structures, it is possible that some upper floor level support may be concentrated at certain portions of the foundation system. Conversely, other areas may have lightly loaded sections. Should the aforementioned soil moisture swelling/shrinkage circumstances arise in heavily loaded or lightly loaded foundation sections, then foundation movement problems may be enhanced.

The heavily loaded portions should be treated with local foundation configurations that spread out the loading to become more uniform. The lightly loaded areas should have design configurations that help minimize variations in the uniform loadings.

Thickness of the floor slab can have a factor. The use of five inch or thicker sections seem to aid in the more widespread distribution of loadings, which contributes to a more uniformed load distribution.

Interior basement structures require additional consideration regarding structural loadings. It is common to see the perimeter foundation system subject to uplift due to soil swelling about the non-moving basement structure. The basement behaves as an “anchor” about which the ground level portions of the house can flex. Oftentimes, significant cracking is noted about the perimeter of the interior basement because of exterior perimeter uplift. In homes with interior basements, proper management of the surrounding surface level foundation system against uplift or shrinkage is important.

Adherence to the Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual in the environment of expansive soils is crucial. Usually, though, it is essential that the loadings and site configuration of all foundations systems receive careful cognizance and consideration.

The Websoil Survey website is essentially the digital version of the USDA Soil Survey that had been initiated many years ago. The Survey had publications for individual counties. The soils information data has been available for some time, but the ready access provided on-line has certainly enhanced it’s value.

The City of Amarillo’s Building Safety Department has taken advantage of this on-line access by incorporating the soil description provided in the Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual. For the most part, the Websoil Survey is useful in determining the soil type for any particular site. The described soil type can be utilized for the residential foundation design configuration. However, soil type data is not provided by the Survey in certain specific locations in the Panhandle region. Typically, these areas where no soil data is available are the areas where the soil type is usually lakebed type soil which is a fat clay. These fat clays are the most expansive clays found in the region.

Therefore, in areas where the soil data are most critical for building purposes, no information is provided. Under these circumstances, the Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual directs the builder to use the worst case more substantial foundation system provided by the Manual.

The Websoil Survey does generally provide useful soil type information. In some cases, it gives soil types at varying depths. However, the data is rather generic in nature, and cannot account for recent artificial changes, development modifications, or site specific variations that are probably not noted in the Websoil Survey.

Comments provided by the previous blog, “Initial Site Building Preparations”, where awareness of the history of any site conditions should be the order of the day.

The Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual’s specific design criteria are primarily based on the “effective plasticity index” of a building site. Reference to page 4-1, (Methodology for Determining Effective PI) of the Manual is noted.

The “effective plasticity index” is determined by an analysis of the weighted plasticity index (PI) values of the layers of the soils taken down to the depth of fifteen feet below the finished soil surface. This kind of information on a particular site is of considerably more value that assumed Websoil Survey provided data.

In fact, obtaining actual on-site data may prove to be more economical than reliance on on-line information. The site may be found to contain superior soils than those presumed by the on-line data, hence lower cost foundation.

I have encountered building sites, most particularly in terrain of significant elevation variations, where soil conditions vary within the site. Under these circumstances, it would be wise to examine the soils at the various changing locations.

It must be recalled, though, that at least the “effective plasticity index” must be determined. A surface soil sample is not sufficient. Other considerations such as site drainage, soil moisture contents, soil stiffness, or water table considerations may be called for.

In the long run, a careful understanding of the building site’s soil conditions are essential, whether determined by Websoil Survey or actual on site determinations.

The title of this blog directs to residential building structures. However the principles presented can apply to just about any type of construction that may be placed on the ground.

Specific reference is directed to both pages 4 and 5, notes 2 and 3 for Tables R401.2(a) and R401.2(b) of the Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual:

“Note 2. The effective plasticity index (PI) of the subgrade fill is 15 to 20 (R401.2(a)) or 20 to 25 (R401.2(b)) when computed by methods presented by the WRI…. The supporting foundation soils are assumed to have a minimum allowable soil bearing capacity of 1500 psf.”

Note 3. All subgrade/fill material shall be compacted to a minimum 95% of maximum density and shall be within 2% of optimum moisture content as determined by ASTM D-698, Standard Proctor, in lifts not exceeding 12″ in depth.”

The aforementioned tables and notes set forth the criteria necessary for compliance should the Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual be utilized for a particular residential building site preparation.

Initial site preparation remains the most crucial aspect of the foundation construction process. The actual foundation structure depends heavily on good site work.

The criteria states that all subgrade and embankment fill be placed at proper compaction at optimum moisture content. Before any of this work is done, though, consideration of historical circumstances of the site is required.

The typical homesite occurs as part of a development. The developer tailors homesite lots for future home construction. Most developments entail a degree of site work on each homesite lot. For example, the developer often cuts streets to grades lower than the actual lot building site for the sake of drainage. The excess embankment soil removed from the street is often placed on the homesite lot. This effort usually augments good off homesite drainage.

Sometimes the developer processes this spread out embankment fill, but no existing code requirement demands this work. It remains the responsibility of the home builder to assure full depth compaction and processing has been completed.

The treatment history of each homesite should be properly investigated to assure that no non-engineered (non-compacted) embankment soil has been placed on the site in the past. If non-compacted soils of more than one foot of depth exist, then the entire building site should be reprocessed down at least to the virgin soils. Even if the site had been properly prepared prior to construction, the surface soils, at least, should be reprocessed if sufficient time has past since the initial work. Surface soils typically dry and deteriorate with time.

These issues are of particular importance with non-level sites.

The Panhandle Residential Foundation Manual design Tables R401.2(a) and R401.2(b) provide specific footing/slab criteria for the more lean clays (R401.2(a)), and for the more expansive clay (R401.2(b)). These notes provide a methodology for determining the particular soil type for a site by using the Web Soil Survey website. For the most part, the use of these stated guidelines are sufficient. A subsequent blog shall discuss the use and the limitations of the Web Soil Survey.

It must be kept in mind, however, that the Web Soil Survey presumes on site virgin soils. In most development projects, the movements of the soils about a site as previously described here do not affect changes in the nature of the soils to any notable degree, so the Web Soil Survey will be useful in these circumstances.

It is possible,though, significant earthwork could be accomplished to the extent that the nature of the on-site soils can be changed. The Web Soil Survey may not apply under these conditions. Awareness of these potential changes is essential. Any foreign soil placed on a virgin site should be compatable from a foundation performance standpoint.

Significantly dis-similar soils should not be layered on a particular homesite. Sandy, non plastic soils should not be placed directly on a clayey soil site. Conversely, clayey soils should not be placed on a sandy site.

For example, a site’s suitability for construction shall be degraded if embankment soils from an area of fatty, more highly expansive soils are placed on a naturally more sandy clayey or lean clay site. On the other hand, if a sandy, more pervious soil is placed on a more impervious clay soil site, then the sand layers near the surface will readily absorb drainage, only to have that excess moisture trapped over the deeper, more impervious clay strata. This tends to create perched moisture zones on top of the virgin clay layers; which shall add to the expansive potential of the underlying clays.

On a future blog, the implications of poor and improperly prepared site conditions on the foundations systems shall be discussed.

The bottom line in all home building site preparation efforts is that all parties be aware of the actual site conditions and be attuned for the proposed foundation design criteria. Numerous resources are available to help assure the most optimal treatment of any site is accomplished. Future blogs shall discuss various options to properly investigate soil issues on sites.