Just found a sink hole on the front yard. About 1 ft around. I easily dug it out to about a foot deep. I could easily push my hand in further. I took a 2 foot dowel and easily pushed that in the full length. Some of the sides seem firm, others soft.
I’ve never dealt with this, but have seen others and some have been nightmares. My sister had one take out half her backyard, seems the developers (30 yrs ago), dug a pit and buried all the wood debris. This is close to where my water line runs, but I have not noticed an increase in water bills. Someone else in my neighborhood has had this recently. I’ll have to talk with them.
Anyone have any suggestions, tips, pointers???
Thanks in advance!
Pine stumps rotting out. They way to check for a water leak is to turn off everything in the house and go to the water meter, if the little red triangle is still spinning then you have a leak.
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Hopefully what sells said. What subdivision you in. Some of the earlier ones put up in the Lowcountry growth spurt weren’t as concerned about sub structure soil and lot’s were built on marsh and swamp. with rip raff and fill dirt put on top with out “mucking” out first. Lot’s of early contractors did a lot of things that would be very hard to get away with now.
Maybe an old grave. [:0] Lot’s of unmarked ones or ones that were only marked the boards back in the day…
Had one in my front yard down by the road. Found out it was the sewer line coming from the back of the neighborhood to the main line. The sewer line had a pump for heavy rain and there was a crack in the line by the pump. Whenever it would rain the pump would suck in the soil and cause a hole. Berkeley County came out and fixed it up and have not had a problem since. It was evident that the contractors knew this and attempted to fix it by simply placing a bag of quikcrete over the line. You may want to have your municipalities water/sewer people come check out the lines in your yard. They just stick a fiber optic scope down access holes. I must say Berkeley County was on the ball with mine.
Thanks guys. Hopefully you are on the money sells. I tested the water like you said, not running when I shut off the water at the house. I’ll have to get those guys out there that mark the utilities.
Now, do I have to dig this out and find out what the cause is? Can I just keep adding dirt and not care what the cause is? I’m not having any sewer problems, but I don’t know where my line runs. This is the middle of the front yard, subdivision ends behind me, so no homes back there so I don’t think any sewer mains run under the yard.
In your last reply you said “turned water off at the house”. Was that a typo? I think Paul suggested turn off everything inside the house and check the meter. That way your pipes are still pressurized under the house.
In your last reply you said “turned water off at the house”. Was that a typo? I think Paul suggested turn off everything inside the house and check the meter. That way your pipes are still pressurized under the house.
Actually, I did both. Thanks for making sure I got it right. I also double checked with the water running to see the red triangle turn. So I am sure I don't have a leak in the yard.
Hopefully what sells said. What subdivision you in. Some of the earlier ones put up in the Lowcountry growth spurt weren’t as concerned about sub structure soil and lot’s were built on marsh and swamp. with rip raff and fill dirt put on top with out “mucking” out first. Lot’s of early contractors did a lot of things that would be very hard to get away with now.
Maybe an old grave. [:0] Lot’s of unmarked ones or ones that were only marked the boards back in the day…
Belle Hall, Mt. P. Hope it's not a grave. Buried treasure I'll take!
I would suggest going out on a full moon and see if there are any Woooooooo sounds or really boney hands with long finger nails coming out of the hole. You know, they say that finger nails keep growing after someone dies:dizzy_face: If you don’t see any of that, you can cross that off the list:smiley:
If your neighbors had any class, they would have someone in an orange county jail outfit hide in the hole until you came home from work and as soon as you pulled in the driveway, they would jump out with a dirty prison spoon and run for the woods…
If your neighbors had any class, they would have someone in an orange county jail outfit hide in the hole until you came home from work and as soon as you pulled in the driveway, they would jump out with a dirty prison spoon and run for the woods…
Well, the poltergeist info didn’t work out so I searched the interweb. Most sites say to contact a professional to have it evaluated. What it doesn’t say is what kind of professional? The only one I found online is one of those ‘foundation repair’ companies. My insurance is checking to see if it is covered, does not think so. The guys will be out this week to mark the utility lines so I will able to “dig” into this futher.
Got the utilities marked. Dug out the sinkhole until I ran out of shovel handle. About 4 ft down. Still a foot wide, so it did not spread out. Found evidence of rotting wood - weird, looked like the inside of a squash, wet and stringy. It was still soft at the bottom, but I probed it with a dowel and seemed to firm up about a foot deeper. One side was still very soft and angled away, so I might have problems in the future. Going to fill it in with rock and sand, top it off with soil. Tamp it down over the next few weeks and hope for the best.