You may know that you are supposed to look at an Advanced Geosciences resistivity survey before you start work on any building project. However, do you know what types of things you should be looking for as you go over the survey? Understanding exactly what you should watch out for can help you identify it much faster than you would be able to otherwise, so you should know about these common pitfalls in advance.

First of all, you just need to look for any underground water sources that could pose a problem. The water table below the surface may be invisible to the eye, but it functions much like the water on the table surface. There are lakes and rivers. You do not want to dig down for the basement or to construct the foundation and discover that you are attempting to build on unstable ground over an underground water source.

Depending on where your project is located, it may also be a good idea to look for fault lines. The survey will tell you if you are building on top of one. At that point, you can decide if you want to go through with the project or if you would feel better about it if you moved to another location. It is worth noting that a fault line itself does not mean that it is unsafe to build, but you have to take special precautions and use special methods to make sure that the building is really safe.