Soling is the process of hand packing rubble stones one adjacent to another, to provide a stable base to the foundation and footing, before concreting work.
Rubble or boulder soling is done to enhance the bearing capacity of the soil, where hard strata are not available. The stones used for the soling purpose are basalt, black trap, granite, or locally available hard stones, that fit under the soling specification.
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| Rubble stone. |
After the excavation for the footing or after murum filling in the plinth, the next sequential work we follow is, providing rubble soling over them.
Now, let us go through the different steps that should be followed for the rubble soling work.
1. Surface cleaning:
The base over which the soling should be laid is cleared of all the loose materials, formworks, props, etc. If you find any leftover building raw materials over the base surface, they should be shifted beforehand to clear the area.
2. Leveling and compaction :
You have to ensure that the moorum ( construction soil ) filled in the plinth or excavated footing pit is properly compacted and leveled, using rammers and compactors to provide an even surface.
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| Moorum-filled plinth. |
3. Laying stones:
Usually, the thickness of the rubble soling varies from 150mm ( 6 inches) to 250mm. (10 inches). The stones selected for the soling should be of uniform size with a maximum variation of ± 20mm. It should be elongated in shape with a broader base.
While laying them, the stones should be packed with minimum voids between the two. The elongated side is kept in the upright vertical position, with a broader base at the bottom.
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| Rubble soling in the plinth. |
First, you have to place the rubble soling, at all four corners and at the center of the working area with the specified thickness. You have to check their top-level using a water tube or any other leveling instruments. By using lineout strings and tying or holding them from one to another, you can cover the leftover soling area easily, by maintaining the needed thickness and required top level.
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| Soling for the footing. |
4. Void filling :
After packing the stones, any voids left in between the soling should be filled with stone chips by inserting them in the gaps. Spreading the stone chips over the rubble soling using ghamela, without packing the voids should be avoided, as it does not slide in between the gaps.
5. Hammering :
After filling the voids, any protrusions of the stones should be knocked off by using hammers to maintain a leveled top surface. If you find some stones that are hard to break, then water the ground beneath the soling and press them inside the subsurface.
6. Compaction:
Use mechanical compactors or manual rammers to compact the soling. First, you have to spray sufficient water all over and then compaction work has to be carried out starting from one end and finishing at the other end, by covering all the surface area.
Specified moorum is thinly spread all over the soling surface and watered again, so that the moorum enters the narrow voids if left any, to provide a robust stabilized base for the concrete.
Final ramming is done and excess moorum if left over the soling surface is then removed to provide a leveled base for the concrete.
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