Suelos, Inc, a soils and materials testing laboratory, drilling company (Geotechnical and Environmental Applications), is currently owned and supervised by Vázquez Castillo - Rodríguez Molina, a Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology Consulting Partnership operating in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

              Suelos (formerly Soil and Materials, Inc.) was founded in 1972. The firm is presided by Luis Vazquez Castillo, P.E., M.E.C.E and Carlos Rodriguez Molina, P.G., P.E., M.S., C.E.

              Our company has been awarded indefinite delivery or Drilling and Laboratory Services in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in 1993 and 1997 by the Jacksonville District Office of the USACE. We have also been awarded contracts with the San Juan Light Rail System (specifically the Bayamon Segment), the Superaqueduct project from Arecibo to San Juan and 7 interconnection statioons, as well as the Toa Alta two ten Million gallon Storage Tanks, PR-10 from Arecibo To Utuado (a project crossing over 12 sinkholes in the active Karst Belt of Norther Puerto Rico, and more recently with the Puerto De Las Americas Super Port Project in the bays of Ponce and Guayanilla.

              The drilling crews in Suelos Inc. have vast experience (over 35 years) in obtaining core bore samples on land, including soft swampy and mountainous terrain. Our drillers can adapt to soft and swampy terrains using either light weight trailer mounted drilling rigs like the Acker Portable Soil Mechanics rig, motorized catheads, CME-45 or BK-51, or by using our All Terrain Drilling Rig CME-750 (ATV). They also have experience on Mountainous terrains, depending on degree of access difficulty, with our trailer mounted rigs (by hauling them with heavy duty four wheel drive trucks), with the All terrain CME 750, and with our acker portable soil and core sampling rig. Core samples on land have been successfully obtained with the use of the USACE 5 inch outside diameter "Triple Tube Core Barrel. This barrel was used in projects like the Portuguese Damsite Project Office in Ponce, Borrow sites for the Rio Arecibo Flood Control Project in Arecibo, and other USACE projects in Fajardo, Humacao, Rio Descalabrado, Rio Nigua, and Rio Puerto Nuevo Flood Control project.

              We have the proven experience to work on floating plants, both in protected fresh water and marine water environments. Projects like the Rio Arecibo Flood Control Project (for the USACE) required use of a floating plant in fresh waters at the delta of the Rio Arecibo, and on relatively un-protected waters on the breakwater zone of the Rio Arecibo and the Atlantic Ocean. The Rio Arecibo Delivery Order was successfully completed due to the full time availability of a 14-foot long craft assisting us, and mainly positioning us.


              The Rio Puerto Nuevo Flood Control Project was performed using the Floating Plant in the middle Canal Martin Peña and constitution bridge of Kennedy Avenue. Coast Guard rules required that the plant be positioned on locations on a daily basis due to potential hazards to traffic on the channel.
 
                 The Puerto De las Americas Superport Transboard Project in Ponce and Guayanilla has been a very succesfull drilling project where we have drilled in water columns of up to 65 feet with a 450 ton floating Barge with 80 foot long spuds. Swells of up to 6 feet have been succesfully overcome with our Marine Division branch. Drilling has been performed in shifts from 5:00 am to 9:00 pm.
Our drillers have the experience to obtain split spoon samples, undisturbed samples (2, 3, and 5 inch diameter shelby tubes), rock cores from both soft and hard rock formations.

              Eng. Luis Vázquez Castillo, has twenty-five (30) years of experience in the field of Soils Mechanics. He has also been part time Professor of Soils Mechanics in the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, and for seven years was Professor of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico located in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Eng. Vázquez Castillo has become a leading expert in Groundwater Development, including well settings, pumping tests and aquifer evaluations.

              Eng. Carlos Rodríguez Molina is a Professional Engineer and Geologist with nineteen (23) years of experience in the practice of Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  
Mr. Rodríguez was Professor of Engineering Geology at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

             As part of Suelos, Inc., we have contracted the services of Geotechnical Engineers Iván Jackson, P.E., Marcus García, M.E.C.E., P.E., Lawrence Correa, P.E.,  Amabelle Aponte Vera EIT, MSCE, Roberto Ocasio, E.I.T., and Geologists Leandro Addarich, P.G., Hector Rodriguez Cesani  GiIT, and David Cuevas, GIT..

              Also, we have obtained the collaboration of Dr. Guillermo Paniagua, P.E., Phd, from Miami, Florida.  Dr. Paniagua was one of the pioneers of Geotechnical Engineering in Puerto Rico. He has extensive experience in Dam design and construction as well as foundation Engineering and Geotechnical Sciences.

              Suelos, Inc. has been very actively involved in Geotechnical and Environmental drilling in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. We currently employ 5 drilling crews, all of them OSHA Certified (29-CFR-1910.120).
Suelos soils and materials testing laboratory has the capability of performing the following soils and materials tests;

Laboratory Tests

      A. Aggregates

1. Sieve Analysis of fine aggregates
2. Sieve Analysis of coarse aggregates
3. Sieve Analysis of cobble aggregates
4. Sieve Analysis (large size) by washing
5. Test for material finer than No. 200 sieve
6. Unit weight and voids in aggregate
7. Organic impurities in sand
8. Soundness test, 5 cycles, using either sodium or magnesium sulfate
9. Light weight pieces in aggregate
10. Specific gravity and absorption of fine aggregate
11. Specific gravity and absorption of coarse aggregate
12. Clay lumps and friable particles
13. Test for scratch hardness of coarse aggregate particles

B. Concrete 

1. Casting, pickup, and testing 6" x 12" concrete cylinders
2. Pickup, curing and testing of concrete cylinders
3. Testing and curing of concrete cylinders
4. Test for slump of Portland cement concrete
5. Air content by pressure method
6. Air content by volummetric method
7. Test for flow of Portland cement concrete by use of the flow table
8. Unit weight and yield
9. Drilled concrete cores
10. Testing of concrete cores
11. Supervision of load test on wall
12. Supervision of load test on beam and slab
13. Trial mix design, including making and curing and testing of concrete cylinders in laboratory.
14. Mix design (including sieve analysis, unit weight, specific gravity and absorption tests).

C. Soil Laboratory Test

1. Moisture content determination
2. Free Swell test
3. Unconfined compression test on undisturbed sample
4. Unconfined compression on remolded sample
5. Liquid limit determination
6. Plastic limit determination
7. Shrinkage limit determination
8. Potential volume change test (PVC)
9. Specific gravity test
10. Sieve Analysis (Washing)
11. Hydrometer analysis
12. Ph determination
13. Laboratory California Bearing Ratio Test (Laboratory)
14. Field California Bearing Ratio Test
15. Modified Proctor Test
16. Standard Proctor Test
17. Field density test by nuclear method
18. Field plate bearing test
19. Supervision of pile load test
20. Unconsolidated undrained triaxial test
21. One dimensional consolidation test
22. Percolation Test
23. Sieve analysis (large size) by washing
24. Determination of organic matter in soil by wet combustion
25. Permeability of granular soil (constant head)
26. Permeability of fine grained soils (falling head)
27. Shrinkage factor determination (loose soil to compacted soil)
28. Shrinkage factor determination (natural soil to compacted soil)
29. Proctor and Classification Test
30. Sedimentation Rate, Carbonate content, loss on ignition

  D. Soil Cement

Moisture-density relations of soil cement mixture.

Wetting and drying tests of compacted soil-cement mix.

Design of soil-cement mix.

Compressive strength of molded soil-cement cylinders.

E. Concrete Masonry Units

1. Compressive strength of concrete masonry units
2. Absorption test
3. Moisture Content
4. Unit weight
5. Dimension test

F. Drilling Exploration

1. Penetration test and split-barrel sampling of soils
2. Soil Investigation and sampling by auger borings
3. Thin-walled Tube sampling of soils
4. Diamond Core Drilling for site investigation
5. Piezometers Installation
6. Slope Indicators Installation
7. Vibrocoring
8. Wireline core drilling

Suelos, Inc., sub leases the services of PR licensed surveyors to establish core boring location on land, off shore and inland. Also, we have experience obtaining rights of entry. We rent heavy earthwork equipment to performed site clearing. , Carbonate content, loss on ignition.

SUELOS, INC.
258 Chile Street, San Juan 
Puerto Rico 00917-2103
Phone: (787)753-0147 /Phone: 787 753-8387
info@suelos-pr.com