One of the most important aspects to choosing a home is where that home is built. The community, geography of the area, and the land’s previous use should all come into consideration when deciding to purchase or build on any given property. New construction can destroy delicate habitats, or endanger new homeowners depending on what the land was previously used for. Many homeowners would be appalled to learn that the home they chose was built on something as sacred as a burial ground or an ecologically sensitive wetland.
Before European settlers first started building homes in North America, the land was largely inhabited by Native Americans who chose to live in roughly the same areas as we live now. Many tribes chose to bury their dead, and occasionally during the construction of a new home, human remains are unearthed. Usually the remains are relocated, and construction continues on the former burial ground. Often people associate Indian burial grounds with hauntings and curses that, combined, with the moral objections of building on a grave site, can lower a homes value.
Wetlands are waterlogged ecosystems, essential in the natural filtration of creek and river water before it is deposited into either larger bodies of water such as our fresh water lakes, and oceans, or back into the river or creek from which it came. A wetland also protects the surrounding area from damaging floods, by acting as a sponge in times of heavy rainfall. Typically, a wetland holds an abundance of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, many of which are endangered. In North America, a vast wetlands conservation movement has been started to curb development on the prime real estate that makes up wetlands. However despite the environmental benefits of wetlands, the US Army Corps of Engineers continues to issue federal permits for builders to fill in wetland for housing. Despite draining and filling in a wetland with more soil, the problem of where the water goes remains a problem, and often times it ends up in the basements of the new homeowner.
Beyond just moral objections, and the risk of flooding, physics plays a further role in determining whether or not the soil on your land is good for building. Soft airy soils, such a peat and clay, settle unevenly over time when pressure is applied to them by a heavy building above. This can cause buildings to tilt, lean, and even threaten the structural integrity. In the event of an earthquake, a liquefaction process can take place in the soil, essentially turning it into temporary quicksand. Wetlands are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon as the amount of water in underlying soil greatly determines the amount of liquefaction. As a remedy to soft soils, often large pillars are driven deep down into the harder ground below in a bid to prevent the sinking of structures above.
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