Proverbs, religious writings, and fairy tales alike all warn of the consequences of not building a structure on a solid foundation. In some SoCal areas, this might be somewhat difficult, considering the ground is
moving on a regular basis. In order to properly retrofit a building, movement must be measured to
determine how structurally sound the foundation of the property is. According to Chris Nelson &
Associates, a monitoring survey measures “the horizontal or vertical movement” of a structure or land
“in an earthquake zone.” This enables builders to determine the viability of the construction space.
To conduct a monitoring assessment, land surveyors in Thousand Oaks visit the site and measure the
location to establish what are called control points or bench marks. In most cases, a project engineer will
designate where he or she would like the control points to be. Once the initial points are recorded, the
surveyor will return to the site and take additional measurements so that he or she has numbers for
comparison.
The information is plugged into a table, which gives the project engineer and managers the ability to
easily identify the land movement of the specific bench marks. The expansion and contraction of the soil
will help determine whether the proposed construction is viable, and these types of surveys are often
required by government agencies throughout the course of the project. Land surveyors in Thousand Oaks are ready to monitor your proposed development so you can be certain you’re building on solid ground.