Cation exchange capacities and house building.

[Inaboxjack]

Hi there,

 

I hope i've posted on the right forum!

 

Just a quick query:

 

I'm trying to deduce which of two clay soils is better for building a house on. My first problem is trying to find out what clays they are.

 

My first clay has a cation exhange capacity of 54.9, so am i right in thinking this is kaolinite? My other clay has a CEC of 3, so i'm thinking this is a hydrous oxide clay? Can anybody give me an indication as to what properties I need to be thinking off when considering which of these is best for house building? E.g - if the clay had been montmorrilonite - I would have known it has a tendency to swell, so a good reason not to consider it for house building. But I dont know about the properties of either of the above clays in terms of house building!!!

 

Hope someone can help! cheers for reading, inaboxjack

[John Cuthber]

OK, I admit I know little about clay and nearly nothing about building. Also, I realise this may be a really dumb question but, is any clay a good thing to build houses on? It seems to me that , when it rains, it would go soggy.