S3 Services
Soils, Sediment & Subsurface, Inc. provides a variety of commercial & residential geotechnical engineering and soils testing services. Our clients typically include Contractors, homeowners, land developers, small-scale commercial ventures, churches, and other institutions.
Commercial & Residential Services
New Construction - S3 provides residential soil borings usually to a depth of 10 feet in order to provide a general indication of soils that are present at the tested areas. Typically, the residential borings investigate for the presence of pipe clay (fat clay or elastic silt, shallow groundwater, buried debris, organic material, or voids. S3 also provides Flood Elevation Determination Letters (Flood Letters) for house sites located within Leon County (outside of Tallahassee City Limits).
Existing Structures - S3 provides soil testing and observation reports on structures that may have foundation problems such as differential settlement or movement resulting in the cracking or movement of the foundation, concrete block or the brick veneer. Typically, cracking and movement within the foundation is found to be directly related to the presence of buried organic material, buried anthropogenic material, fat clay or elastic silt (pipe clay), or loose fill soils which were not properly compacted during construction/installation. If the testing reveals issues related to the existing soils, S3 can provide a solution/design to offset the problematic soil conditions. S3 works with foundation system companies to provide the installation of the designed foundation system.
Drainage Studies - S3 provides drainage studies on projects ranging from individual berm, swale, or ditch studies for homes to localized basin studies for stormwater models and calculations. S3 also provides Flood Elevation Determination Letters (Flood Letters) for building sites located within Leon County (outside of Tallahassee City Limits).
General Soils Testing Services
S3 provides soil testing services for commercial or residential site investigation purposes, commercial or residential structural foundation soils analysis, classification of fill material, compaction testing of fill and natural soils, Dynamic Cone Penetrometer testing, Standard Penetration Testing (SPT), seasonal high groundwater determination, soil infiltration rate determinations, Double Ring Infiltrometer Test, Level 3 soil classifications for the State of Georgia Dept of Human Resources, & on-site wastewater (septic) soils classifications.
Laboratory Soils Testing Services
S3 provides the following laboratory testing:
Modified Proctor
Standard Proctor
Plasticity Testing (Liquid Limits and Plastic Index)
Organic Content Analysis
Natural Moisture Analysis
Minus 200 (-200) Wash Sieve Analysis
Full Sieve Analysis (for soil classification via Unified Soil Classification System and AASHTO)
Laboratory Variable Head Permeability Test
Limerock Bearing Ratio Testing (LBR) via the Florida Test Method
Environmental Services
S3 typically provides the following environmental services:
Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (Phase I ESA).
Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (Phase II ESA).
Transaction Screens
Environmental Soil and Groundwater sampling for Analytical Testing of chemical or biological contaminates/constituents.
Septic System Soils Services
Soils, Sediment & Subsurface, Inc. is licensed with the States of Georgia and Florida to conduct soil evaluation for areas proposed to be utilized for on-site wastewater systems. Additionally, S3 designs engineered septic systems for sites where problematic soil conditions have been found, such as sites with high seasonal groundwater tables.