|
|
Post by kellybelly77 on May 6, 2016 1:24:49 GMT
So dh was mowing tonight when he stepped and his foot fell into a hole in the ground. He jumped back and the ground continued to fall into the hole. It revealed a hole about 3 foot wide. We stuck a big pipe down it and it is 7 foot deep with about 4 foot of water in it. The hole is about 10 feet away from the house in our side yard. I googled and various websites said to call your insurance company to report it. So I did.
I guess I am not sure who else to call? We dont know what the hole is, where it came from and where all the blasted water came from. It's not near our sewer line but about 20 years ago they rearranged the sewer lines in our neighborhood so it's possible it's related to a non working line.
Who do you call to investigate this?? All city offices are closed right now of course but maybe the engineering office? We did place a piece of plywood over it for the night and notified the neighbors on that side.
Update:::
Update: Well the City engineer seems to think we have our own well! Our house is built on a limestone rock shelf which we knew there was a ton of limestone underneath. So what he thinks is happening is that there is a nearby underground water source and that water is flowing along the edge of the rock shelf towards our back yard since that is downhill. The water over the years has washed away soil and created cavities and now the water is filling the cavities. This particular spot was full of water and it made the soil weak and unstable and finally caved in last night. He tested it onsite and said it is ice cold groundwater and that farmers a couple generations ago would have been thrilled with this discovery. I am not so thrilled!
He is sending other engineers and investigators out on Monday to do a few more tests. They think we should be able to fill it in with large rock, smaller rock and then soil. Once the cavity is filled it will force the water to continue downhill until it hits the retaining wall where it can drain out. But they do suggest hiring a company who specializes in this to see if there are anymore and if they recommend a different plan.
My homeowners does not cover this or so they tell me and I don't know how expensive a professional firm would be. So I guess we will wait until Monday's tests are complete to see if that is still the plan.
|
|
|
|
Post by Merge on May 6, 2016 1:27:15 GMT
Do you have a 311 service in your city? That's who I'd call.
|
|
gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,107
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
|
Post by gsquaredmom on May 6, 2016 1:44:19 GMT
I would call the police non emergency number. They may call someone else in.
|
|
|
|
Post by scrapApea on May 6, 2016 1:49:22 GMT
Whoa ! That's scary! He could have fell in there!
|
|
Peamac
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea # 418
Posts: 4,240 
|
Post by Peamac on May 6, 2016 1:55:34 GMT
Yikes! So glad your dh is ok! Maybe you can call a city engineer in the morning. Does your area have a lot of limestone?
|
|
tincin
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,415
Jul 25, 2014 4:55:32 GMT
|
Post by tincin on May 6, 2016 1:57:01 GMT
Yow, glad he didn't fall in. No idea who to call though.
|
|
|
|
Post by hdoublej on May 6, 2016 1:58:15 GMT
So glad he didn't fall in!! I have no idea who to call, sorry.
|
|
|
|
Post by kellybelly77 on May 6, 2016 1:58:57 GMT
Whoa ! That's scary! He could have fell in there! I know! There is no way I could have pulled him out. I called the city water dept just because they are the only ones with an after hour number. The answering service said they would have someone call me. So I'll just wait I guess! |
|
TankTop
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1,871
Posts: 4,876
Location: On the couch...
Jun 28, 2014 1:52:46 GMT
|
Post by TankTop on May 6, 2016 2:01:42 GMT
Holy cow! I would be so freaked out. Thank goodness he is okay.
|
|
quiltz
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,086
Location: CANADA
Jun 29, 2014 16:13:28 GMT
|
Post by quiltz on May 6, 2016 2:04:49 GMT
Do you have a gas line? I would call them to turn off the gas.
Is the electricity secure?
Do call the fire department so that they can secure your home.
|
|
|
|
Post by chaosisapony on May 6, 2016 2:06:52 GMT
Yikes that's scary! Here I would try to call Public Works, they should be able to help or direct you to who to call.
|
|
|
|
Post by Baseballmom23 on May 6, 2016 2:07:58 GMT
I would call the non emergency police phone number because they should be able to get a hold of an on call person for the water dept. I see that you called the water dept so that's good Is there a sewer smell? Or just water?
And I'm glad hubby is okay
|
|
Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,836
Location: Kentucky
|
Post by Kerri W on May 6, 2016 2:08:40 GMT
I have a friend going through something similar. Their's ended up being a very large ordeal with multiple factors including the city not redoing a drainage pipe correctly across the street from her house and several wet weather springs that popped up. They started with
the city engineer who also called in an ecological engineer.
I'm not suggesting yours will be anything like what my friend experienced. Sinkholes are not uncommon in our area and most are not a major issue. But I would call the city engineer...here they're in the planning and zoning office, which is also where you get building permits.
|
|
|
|
Post by cawoman on May 6, 2016 2:09:28 GMT
Whoa! How scary!!! Keep us posted. Happy your DH wasn't hurt.
|
|
|
|
Post by anxiousmom on May 6, 2016 2:11:42 GMT
If you have some spray paint, you may want to mark the edges now so that you know (and be able to answer the question) definitively as to whether or not it is growing in size. That will be a question that the engineers will want to know.
|
|
|
|
Post by kellybelly77 on May 6, 2016 2:17:01 GMT
Do you have a gas line? I would call them to turn off the gas. Is the electricity secure? Do call the fire department so that they can secure your home. We do have a gas line but it travels along the other side of the house. |
|
quiltz
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,086
Location: CANADA
Jun 29, 2014 16:13:28 GMT
|
Post by quiltz on May 6, 2016 2:25:54 GMT
Do you have a gas line? I would call them to turn off the gas. Is the electricity secure? Do call the fire department so that they can secure your home. We do have a gas line but it travels along the other side of the house. Has there been any kind of 'fracking' in your area, 25 mile radius? I am con er ed with the a ount of water in the sinkhole. I would be calling the fire department to secure the area, but I am cauctious that way. |
|
flute4peace
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,757
Jul 3, 2014 14:38:35 GMT
|
Post by flute4peace on May 6, 2016 2:42:35 GMT
The news had a story about one a few weeks ago. Scary stuff!
I like the idea of marking the edges with bright paint - but BE CAREFUL!!!
My best guess of who to call would be EM, but honestly the fire dept isn't a bad idea, either. Can you find a non-emergency # to dispatch? |
|
|
|
Post by redrulz on May 6, 2016 2:44:16 GMT
That's very scary! I'm glad your dh is okay. No idea about sinkholes, but did find this link had some helpful info. I'm not sure how to post a link, but the address is www.sinkhole.org/WhatToDo.php
|
|
azredhead
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,755
|
Post by azredhead on May 6, 2016 3:04:02 GMT
Wow that is scary! Glad your DH is okay. I would call the non emergency number too- they might know of who to contact. They might even send somebody out faster.
I like the idea of marking it so you can tell. I also would avoid the area if you can, till someone comes to look at it. After you mark it, if you feel safe.
|
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on May 6, 2016 3:09:15 GMT
That's really freaky! Glad your DH (or anyone else, especially a kid) didn't fall in, and I hope you can get some answers tomorrow. Wow.
|
|
|
|
Post by JustKim on May 6, 2016 3:28:00 GMT
we had a small one in front of our house. We called 911 and said it was none emergent. We are a small town and had a quick response. They (police) were able to contact people after hours that we were not able to. A cone was placed in the whole for a few weeks. It was around the time they were fixing the sewer and doing street repairs so they just waited for those things to happen.
|
|
|
|
Post by kellybelly77 on May 6, 2016 3:37:19 GMT
Well the city never called back but sent out a bunch of guys.  . They said it's not related to the sewer or storm drainage. They did poke around and said that there is limestone down there so it may be a crack in the limestone that developed over years and filled with water from all the heavy rains we've had lately. But they weren't sure so they said to call the city engineering office tomorrow. We do have a ton of limestone around here and there was not a sewer smell so no real answers yet. I don't have any spray paint but we did put a big piece of plywood over it. |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 19:35:34 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on May 6, 2016 3:41:09 GMT
No advice but wanted to add that this is the stuff of my nightmares.
|
|
IAmUnoriginal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,894
Jun 25, 2014 23:27:45 GMT
|
Post by IAmUnoriginal on May 6, 2016 4:21:16 GMT
Wow. Scary. I'm glad your DH wasn't hurt. These type of events with property freak me out. Since I work in the insurance industry, I hear and see too many weird things (like the house that had a fire start on two sides of,the house because lightening hit a chain link fence and traveled from one end to the other, starting a fire in the north side and the south side).
We had a client who developed a sinkhole under a portion of their home a couple years ago. The cause of the sink hole was a pipe that had a small leak for what the homeowner thinks was many months. They'd noticed that their water bills had gone up some but didnt pay too much attention to it because they had twin teen boys. Then, their city water department contacted them because they used a huge amount of water one month and triggered an alert. All sorts of people got involved -- engineers, plumbers, state inspectors, etc. The house was on a slab foundation and there were concerns the slab would buckle and the house destroyed. Their insurance policy had an exclusion for earth movement and many policies do carry a similar exclusion. Their policy didn't pay to fill the sink hole. But, it did pay to open up the slab foundation to get to the pipe and to replace the flooring destroyed in the process of opening the slab. The client had to pay for the professionals consulted that weren't provided by the city, the pipe repair and dirt to fill the hole.
|
|
|
|
Post by LavenderLayoutLady on May 6, 2016 10:10:20 GMT
I'm so glad your dh is okay.
That's so scary. I hope it is a relatively easy repair for you.
|
|
Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,836
Location: Kentucky
|
Post by Kerri W on May 6, 2016 11:15:44 GMT
If you have some spray paint, you may want to mark the edges now so that you know (and be able to answer the question) definitively as to whether or not it is growing in size. That will be a question that the engineers will want to know. Good idea to mark it in some way but the areas sprayed with paint would just fall away if it got larger, right? Also, definitely get the city engineers involved but if this ends up being a significant ordeal (i.e. Expensive) get an independent opinion as well. Your insurance company could probably help with that. |
|
|
|
Post by anxiousmom on May 6, 2016 11:39:54 GMT
If you have some spray paint, you may want to mark the edges now so that you know (and be able to answer the question) definitively as to whether or not it is growing in size. That will be a question that the engineers will want to know. Good idea to mark it in some way but the areas sprayed with paint would just fall away if it got larger, right? Also, definitely get the city engineers involved but if this ends up being a significant ordeal (i.e. Expensive) get an independent opinion as well. Your insurance company could probably help with that. Yes, but that would be an answer in and of itself. As in 'we marked the edges at plus one foot and as you can see that boundary is no longer there.' We have to buy separate sink hole insurance riders. Without it, the insurance company will not pay for any damages...kind of like hurricane insurance. One thing they always seem to ask at the beginning (we get the really big, really sudden ones-the entire state of Florida is limestone) is how big is it and is it growing. Being able to answer that question is helpful. |
|
gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,107
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
|
Post by gsquaredmom on May 6, 2016 11:58:48 GMT
I would not get close enough to mark it. It may not be safe. I would take pictures with the same camera from the same spot, away from the hole itself.
I hope it does not continue to grow, OP.
|
|
|
|
Post by melanell on May 6, 2016 13:02:53 GMT
I'm glad your DH is okay and that they at least sent someone out to see it.
I'd probably still call the gas company themselves to ask about that. And I definitely think that the spray paint around the perimeter is a very good idea.
|
|
. They said it's not related to the sewer or storm drainage. They did poke around and said that there is limestone down there so it may be a crack in the limestone that developed over years and filled with water from all the heavy rains we've had lately. But they weren't sure so they said to call the city engineering office tomorrow. 
