Off topic and NSFW, but my wife and I were going at it one time after we both smoked some devils lettuce. Well something happened and we both started laughing, well I started to go limp and yelled FLAT TIRE!
We belly laughed for about 15 min, great time.
The hole, or the money it takes to fill it?
I want my childhood fears back. The creak and crackle of a monster in the basement has nothing on hidden leaks and foundation failure.
But with sinkholes
Lana: What's a brain aneurysm have to do with walking around in a swamp?
Archer: Nothing, it can happen anywhere at anytime, that's what makes it so terrifying.
I remember this, and it is false. It was a manipulated map that circulated a few years ago stating what your comment says, but in reality it was not a map of all disappearances in the US, but the disappearances in national parks in the US. So, it was made to look like a correlation, because of course there will be caves in national parks. In short, just manipulated data.
So what do you do about that? I imagine you need some sort of expert (geotechnical engineer?) to come out and determine if it is going to get worse. Do they just fill the hole with concrete? Looks like a serious hazard. Glad you are safe.
As a home owner for almost 10 years now, I'm so over being responsible to fix or find someone to fix everything. That premium for renting is nice. However, knowing I can pretty much get kicked out at any time, should the landlord decide to not to renew a lease or whatever, is something I'm not really eager to get back into. But it is tempting sometimes.
There’s definitely pros and cons to both but “homeownership” sucks up until the last few years of the mortgage, because almost nothing but interest comes out until then.
Yup, part time. Small building of special needs adults. Basically I just have to clean common areas once a week, call maintenance when something breaks I can’t handle (I do things like lightbulbs), check smoke detectors monthly, and help my manager get paperwork or post notices when needed. They just like having someone on site, since my tenants are special needs.
You could move into a condo. Would cover some of the things you hate. And company’s do offer after market warranty’s on appliances and such as well to cover the rest.
In some ways, I feel like a condo is worst of both worlds. You're stuck with an overbearing (sometimes dangerous) HOA or condo board, while tied-down financially and paying a premium.
I work in property management, and bought a condo. The board in a co-op is a pain in the ass because they have to approve buyers, but condos aren't usually a problem. It's really just a debate on what common areas to spend money on.
Hey OP I had a huge sinkhole in my driveway as a result of mining. The state of Missouri has reclamation funds and they paid to fill mine with 6 trucks of concrete and rebar.
Look up your state DNR and see if the have something similar to the state geological survey. The state set funds aside from these companies many years ago and although they didn't repair my driveway they did reassure me that this was a large test hole and they found it on the map and helped me feel reassured that the whole house wasn't about to cave in.
https://imgur.com/gallery/QzxAvfH
This is dangerous being that close to your house. As a Floridian I’ve heard a ton of news stories of peoples houses being swallowed by sink holes. I wouldn’t sleep at that end of the house or maybe even in the house at all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/19/florida-sinkhole-reopens-two-years-after-it-swallowed-a-sleeping-man-and-killed-him/
The fact that it isn't currently full of water is both a good thing and also somewhat concerning because it might mean it's a seasonal issue which might be a bitch to locate and fix
There is a solid chance that it's a limestone cave situation and there's a solid chance that it's a man-made cistern
I'm seconding man made cistern. Just off the front door was a popular place for them and that's a very straight, very smooth hole. It's a circle, not an oval. And when the house eventually got plumbing, a popular way of capping off the old cistern was to just throw a concrete slab on top of the whole mess and call it a new front porch. I know several turn of the century farmhouses with cisterns under their front porches.
They can be a real pain to deal with, too. I'm in southern Missouri and the whole area is just riddles with little caves. Sometimes, these old cisterns leaked and would alter water flow underground and make a real mess. But I only know of one specific case of that happening.
There was a reddit post sometime last year or so where someone found a big scary hole in the basement of their home. It ended up being a man-made cistern that had been covered up.
Can confirm, lived in an old farmhouse and had a cistern under the front porch. We actually dug out a trench to one side, punched a hole in the side of the cistern, lined the trench with cinder blocks and put in a stairway, and turned the whole thing into a root cellar.
I also live in an old farmhouse. When adding a deck to the side of our house we had to fill up a cistern that was in that area. A little less than a year later a large hole opened up near our garage that was many feet deep. Turned out that it was an old well. Oh well.
I went to college in Lancaster County PA. Sinkholes are a thing. They started pouring concrete for the coundation of the new science building and it...just went elsewhere. They literally did just keep pouring cement until the hole filled up...or at least that was the rumor around campus.
Yeah, definitely bad in sinkhole alley. Definitely get this fixed right. Don't be like [the guy that fell into one in his bedroom](https://weather.com/news/news/seffner-florida-sinkhole-reopens) in Seffner, FL. He was never found.
They have them in many places though. Remember the [Corvette Museum sinkhole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smhOL8I4T_o) in KY?
Anywhere with “reclaimed” swampland or backfilled muck. Sinkholes are terrifying. Also lots of them around high areas of limestone because it’s so porous.
I've heard that's a thing. Just pouring concrete until the hole fills up. Concrete is cheap, fixing the actual problem is not.
I found a sinkhole in a friend's dad's property once. The grass was sunken in a little, i started poking at it and it turns out the grass was just hanging in the air. It was like 2'x4' and probably 4' deep. The house on that property has some really gnarly foundation warping. A lot of door frames are clearly slanting. It's scary.
What would actually fixing the problem look like to you? Pennsylvania has a lot of caves, so this might have just been a small, shallow cave instead of something that happened from recent erosion. They could have filled with gravel if they had known about the issue beforehand, but now that there's wet concrete in the hole, stopping to let it harden and fill with gravel before going back to concrete might just make air pockets for a future sink hole to form from. Also, concrete isn't cheap and there's actually a bit of shortage going on.
A house in our neighborhood was badly damaged by a sink hole a few months ago, the family was ok but had to be evacuated. They are still trying to salvage the house. It's mostly filled in now but here's a pic before the fill. https://imgur.com/B6ScQHU.jpg
I fixed one of these for a client when I was in construction. The city allowed us to fill it with slurry, which is concrete with no large aggregate (I believe). It took three truckloads, and it was filled—a relatively inexpensive fix.
Edit: To answer the question about this solution being expensive.
Relatively is the keyword here. Typically, to backfill a hole (a large hole, not when you're just burying your cat) it's required by city code to do it in layers, e.g., add a foot of soil, compact that with heavy equipment, add another, compact that, and so on. For a sinkhole, it's impossible to get heavy equipment down in there. So it requires first excavating the hole big enough to drive the equipment down into it and then begin building it back correctly - super expensive, if you can imagine. Add the problem that it's near a building, and now there are shoring issues to prevent the foundations from cracking, falling, etc. during the excavation. So yeah, a couple of truck fulls of concrete is dirt cheap (see what I did there?)
Years ago I was helping a buddy put a clothes line in his back yard. Proper old school clothes line with big posts and a long run.
Anyways, we start digging and about 6-8 inches into the soil we hit concrete. We both think "Well that's annoying." assuming it's an old post base or maybe a spot somebody dumped a wheelbarrow of concrete decades and decades ago when the house was built. We dig around it for a spell and it becomes clear this is a lot of fucking concrete. Like... Cold War bunker, what the fuck is this thing, lot of concrete.
Our excitement was pretty well crushed though when the older neighbor ambled over to see what we were working on and started laughing. Turns out it was the exact situation you describe. The old timer says something along the lines of "Oh yeah, back in the day there was a huge sink hole back here. God knows how many cement mixers worth of concrete are down there. You'll be digging that thing out for the rest of your lives."
So presumably under my buddy's backyard there is a concrete "egg" the size of a fucking house.
There's a parallel universe where your neighbor just sipped his drink and watched from the window and you and your friend searched for days for a hatch or any sort of feature before giving up.
Thankfully the neighbor came by and said something. Imagine he just quietly thought to himself "I wonder how many days it will take for them to just give up" lmao
"Oi mate, zat your sinkhole? That's gonna be 100 bucks mate, easy. Oh yeah right now. Pay, idk, the govment er SOMEbuddy. Better hurry on it, dey put people in da hole fer stuff like chyat"
I have this hole that keeps opening up near the side of my house. Seems like no matter how much we fill it in, it keeps coming back. I'm completely convinced it's a sinkhole, which is one of my biggest fears, but my husband says it isn't. Whenever I go to that side of the house I walk as far away as possible for this exact reason. I'm not about to die that way.
Is it an open hole or more like a depression. It used to be common to bury things you wanted to get rid of. It could be something like an old stump or a pile of garbage decaying underground.
It's an open hole that's big enough that our blind cat fell in it a couple years ago and couldn't get out. My husband says it was a backfill problem around the foundation. We have found some bricks and a few small pieces of concrete in there when filling it with some heavy clay dirt from my parent's place. It hasn't opened up since we filled it last year but if we don't keep the gutters clean, it overflows right there and it opens right back up.
I just wanted to pop by and reassure you about your sinkhole. Obviously, land varies and you should talk to someone about the geology of your area.
But I live in southern Missouri. Everything under me is limestone that is constantly eroding and developing sinkholes and caves. Learning about the area's geology is something of a hobby of mine. In part, because I have a sinkhole in my front yard that sounds like yours.
Forty years ago, my dad laid in a new gravel driveway. He only half-way prepared it and so no one was surprised when the back side started disappearing into the grass. So he fixed it and brought in a new load of gravel.
The next year, he did it again. And again. Over the next twenty years that spot ate so much gravel and we eventually gave up trying to use that area and moved the driveway. (it's a rural area and we have twenty acres to play with, so it wasn't a big problem.)
This kind of sinkhole is more of a dirt flow. When water flows through the soil (like when it rains) the soil in that area liquefies enough that heavier bits sink to the bottom, sometimes flowing into pockets nearby, sometimes forming underground "rivers" of soil. Some are just giant mud holes that seem to be more because heavier stuff sinks and the lighter particles float to the top.
That sounds a little scary until you remember that we don't build houses on soil. When we can't build on stone, we compress and compact the ground so it's stable and level. And cities and towns are a network of buildings and roads that have further solidified the ground Not to mention a few hundred years (or more) of people living there before you to find those problems.
So the big scary sinkholes that open up and swallow you? If your view looks like this don't worry about them. And the one in your yard is probably just a pocket of water keeping the soil liquid. Plant something there that likes wet soil, like a willow tree and it'll do great and help stabilize the yard, too.
(OP's "sinkhole" is probably a man-made cistern which should have been disclosed to her, but they were renting.)
I live in Michigan so I know we don't have huge issues like states with caves and limestone. I do appreciate the reassurance though. I think I know it's not actually one of those swallow your whole house holes but damn, it's still scary to think about.
I'm serious about planting a tree there. Something hardwood and slow-growing. It should be able to send down deep roots and should rarely need watering. The roots will help stabilize the soil and reduce the erosion and a big sturdy tree there should help be a reminder that the ground is solid there. Symbiosis with your environment.
So back in January 2 years ago I was just walking in my own front yard with my dog early in the morning. I step on a particular spot of dirt and the ground gives way. I fell about 10 feet down where I hit a large rock. I almost fell further down below the rock but I brace myself against the wall with my torso above the rock and my legs under it.
Luckily I had my phone in my pocket so I was able to call 911 from the hole. I fell about 10 feet down but according to the firemen the hole went down about 20. it was a crazy experience, I lost a slipper and a beanie in it, then a few days later my bother in law visits and accidentallydrops his glasses down there. To this day I can't see someone going underground without panicking
Basically a hollow concrete/stone tank underground for holding rain water, which could then be pumped out of the tank for household use. They were commonly used before indoor plumbing.
Maybe that, or maybe old septic tank. Or, plumbing leak caused it.
I think it's gotta be one of those. You don't seem to be in an area that has many natural sinkholes.
In second the cistern. I lived in an old house, originally built in the early 1900s and had a major reno in the 20s that had an old cistern. We didn't know about it until it started to cave in. Ours already had a bunch of junk in it from previous people trying to fill it in. No matter how much was put down there it would still sink. Good luck with whatever you have.
Actually I think you are right! I googled cisterns and found an image of a pipe that connects to the gutter drain pipe to collect water. We have a pipe sticking out of the ground about 5 feet from the hole. It’s on the corner of the house where a drain pipe comes down. You can just barely see the gutter drain pipe at the edge of the porch.
Not a counter, but an "also-sucks"... If like a lot of renters, myself included,they don't have the cash to get a new place. There's no way I could afford to move suddenly. Not a chance. I'd be homeless.
Saw you’re in Virginia and don’t know the exact nature of your housing agreement, but you should be aware that the property owner may be required to supply you housing while the situation is remedied.
>B. Upon the sole determination by the landlord of the existence of a nonemergency property condition in the dwelling unit that requires the tenant to temporarily vacate the dwelling unit in order for the landlord to properly remedy such property condition, the landlord may, upon at least 30 days' written notice to the tenant, require the tenant to temporarily vacate the dwelling unit for a period not to exceed 30 days to a comparable dwelling unit, or hotel, as selected by the landlord and at no expense or cost to the tenant. The landlord shall not be required to pay for any other expenses of the tenant that arise after the temporary relocation period. The landlord and tenant may agree for the tenant to temporarily vacate the dwelling unit in less than 30 days. For purposes of this subsection, "nonemergency property condition" means (i) a condition in the dwelling unit that, in the determination of the landlord, is necessary for the landlord to remedy in order for the landlord to be in compliance with § 55.1-1220; (ii) the condition does not need to be remedied within a 24-hour period, with any condition that needs to be remedied within 24 hours being defined as an "emergency condition"; and (iii) the condition can only be effectively remedied by the temporary relocation of the tenant pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.
>The tenant shall continue to be responsible for payment of rent under the rental agreement during the period of any temporary relocation. The landlord shall pay all costs of repairs or remediation required to address the nonemergency property condition. Refusal of the tenant to cooperate with a temporary relocation pursuant to this subsection shall be deemed a breach of the rental agreement, unless the tenant agrees to vacate the unit and terminate the rental agreement within the 30-day notice period. If the landlord properly remedies the nonemergency property condition within the 30-day period, nothing in this section shall be construed to entitle the tenant to terminate the rental agreement. Further, nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the landlord from taking legal action against the tenant for any noncompliance that occurs during the period of any temporary relocation pursuant to this subsection. During the pendency of an unlawful detainer filed by the landlord against the tenant, the landlord may request the court to enter an order requiring the tenant to provide the landlord with access to such dwelling unit.
Per § 55.1-1229
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/virginia-residential-landlord-and-tenant-act/
Eh…. Depends on the sinkhole. Some of them can be worked around with proper engineering and supports. But some of them involve caves or mines, and the house is fucked.
My first thought too. Watch out for little demons and dead dogs coming back to life. Also google to see if dead workers are buried in your walls. Play all metal albums backwards just incase.
About 100 years ago in Portland, OR, before there was a sewer system, each house had a cesspool in the yard (a cesspool is basically a covered hole or buried tank, and everything that pours down the house drain flows into it). When the city finally installed a sewer they never made a law detailing how to properly decommission the now unused cesspools. As a result, most of the cesspools were simply covered over and forgotten about. People bought and sold homes, planted gardens, time moved on. In the mid 90's, people began disappearing. The rain had eroded away so much that in some places there was only 6" of dirt holding up the grass above a drop into a liquidy demise. One moment, your putting the rake away, the next moment, the grass is quickly rising toward you, then darkness and a splash into old water. The only light coming from the you-sized hole 15' above the surface of the water. Many of these holes have been filled with concrete, but in the older neighborhoods, they still claim 1 or 2 people a year.
Do you have a sump? This happened to me a few years back, the pipe from my sump cracked and caused a sinkhole about 8 feet deep and 8 feet wide with just a small 1 foot hole at the surface. I thought the dog had been digging, then I realize what it was.
Jeeeeze! Glad you’re ok
Imagine falling down there in a snow storm with just a T-shirt, then not being able to get out and no one hearing you scream because the dirt deadens sound.
NIGHTMARE
Could be an old cesspit. My former house had a situation like this. It had a concrete lid which cracked and broke. It only had about 6" of soil on it. It happened about a week before I was supposed to close on it. The owner got a truckload of soil to fill it. It sank in more in subsequent years, and I filled it with more soil excavated when I built a block wall around the backyard.
Happened in Tampa back in 2013 to Jeff Bush, a 30ft deep hole opened up beneath the guys bed while he was sleeping. It ended up swallowing most of the house and they never found the poor guy! You can still find the story online...terrifying!
Now you got a trap door
I should have yelled “wrong lever!” as I fell.
Or the classic "ahh-ha-ha-hooooeyyyy". I think I spelled that right?
I heard this comment
I can hear it as well. You fuckin nailed it dude
Nailed it.
r/commentsyoucanhear
I do this when I yawn a lot and my wife fucking *hates* it.
Gorsh
Why do we even have that lever?!
Put your hands in the air Yzma!
Why would you even *have* that sinkhole?
For sinkhole stuff man. You don’t have one?
Na man I'm missing out!
I would have died laughing had I been there and you yelled that. Then I would have helped you, after I undied.
“It’s a trap!”
Off topic and NSFW, but my wife and I were going at it one time after we both smoked some devils lettuce. Well something happened and we both started laughing, well I started to go limp and yelled FLAT TIRE! We belly laughed for about 15 min, great time.
The right thing she should've done is to blow on it in an attempt to inflate it again.
Don't panic. On the belt line of the automatic pilot, there's a hollow tube. Now that is the manual inflation nozzle. Take it out and blow on it.
Good luck—we’re all counting on you.
And be prepared to need a cigarette after successful inflation. What a great fucking movie.
Why do we even have that lever????
This is one of my great fears. Thanks for reaffirming it.
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Til the flames got higher
And it burns, burns, burns The ring of fire
The ring of fire, the ring of fire
Brought to you by Preparation H.
Oh you had Taco Bell too huh?
With the sickness!!
Ooh wah ah ah ah!
If it makes you feel any better, there was one fairly recently that was full of boiling water.
The hole, or the money it takes to fill it? I want my childhood fears back. The creak and crackle of a monster in the basement has nothing on hidden leaks and foundation failure.
you can kill monsters for free, unlike leaks and foundations
But with sinkholes Lana: What's a brain aneurysm have to do with walking around in a swamp? Archer: Nothing, it can happen anywhere at anytime, that's what makes it so terrifying.
God I love that show, the jokes always comes out of nowhere. Really keeps your attention.
More like terafirming it amirite?
This all seems anything but terraFIRM
Came here to say this... Everytime I see news of a sinkhole I'm filled with horrible dread. Number one death fear.
Mine too if there are bees in the hole
Great. Now it just got worse
It’s not a coincidence that some of the missing people in America are also located around areas with caves.
I remember this, and it is false. It was a manipulated map that circulated a few years ago stating what your comment says, but in reality it was not a map of all disappearances in the US, but the disappearances in national parks in the US. So, it was made to look like a correlation, because of course there will be caves in national parks. In short, just manipulated data.
So what do you do about that? I imagine you need some sort of expert (geotechnical engineer?) to come out and determine if it is going to get worse. Do they just fill the hole with concrete? Looks like a serious hazard. Glad you are safe.
I have no idea, I called the property owner who lives a few houses down. She is going to get in contact with the needed people tomorrow.
One of the few times where you can say “thank god I’m renting”
As a homeowner and a person who has rented, there are lots of times where you can say this
As a home owner for almost 10 years now, I'm so over being responsible to fix or find someone to fix everything. That premium for renting is nice. However, knowing I can pretty much get kicked out at any time, should the landlord decide to not to renew a lease or whatever, is something I'm not really eager to get back into. But it is tempting sometimes.
There’s definitely pros and cons to both but “homeownership” sucks up until the last few years of the mortgage, because almost nothing but interest comes out until then.
I lucked into a good middle ground. Property manager with a free apartment, including utilities. We
The suspense is killing me
Oops! Typing while walking around the dog park, with gloves on. Not always a good combination!
well... don't keep us waiting. What kind of dog is it?
That’s a good gig. Is it like a part time job or?
Yup, part time. Small building of special needs adults. Basically I just have to clean common areas once a week, call maintenance when something breaks I can’t handle (I do things like lightbulbs), check smoke detectors monthly, and help my manager get paperwork or post notices when needed. They just like having someone on site, since my tenants are special needs.
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Were kidnapped?! Wtf?!
Hadn't been true in a while. First mortgage started at like 40 percent interest. Over 50 now
My brain isn’t working so great rn. Can you elaborate a little?
He means 40 percent going to interest, not 40 percent interest rate. I was confused too.
You could move into a condo. Would cover some of the things you hate. And company’s do offer after market warranty’s on appliances and such as well to cover the rest.
In some ways, I feel like a condo is worst of both worlds. You're stuck with an overbearing (sometimes dangerous) HOA or condo board, while tied-down financially and paying a premium.
I work in property management, and bought a condo. The board in a co-op is a pain in the ass because they have to approve buyers, but condos aren't usually a problem. It's really just a debate on what common areas to spend money on.
Property adjuster here. Sinkholes are usually almost always excluded from coverage too.
Lotta people poppin in to report on all the cons of homeownership but they ain't selling their houses to go back to renting lol
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Hey OP I had a huge sinkhole in my driveway as a result of mining. The state of Missouri has reclamation funds and they paid to fill mine with 6 trucks of concrete and rebar. Look up your state DNR and see if the have something similar to the state geological survey. The state set funds aside from these companies many years ago and although they didn't repair my driveway they did reassure me that this was a large test hole and they found it on the map and helped me feel reassured that the whole house wasn't about to cave in. https://imgur.com/gallery/QzxAvfH
I hope this shows up on r/BestofRedditorUpdates
This is dangerous being that close to your house. As a Floridian I’ve heard a ton of news stories of peoples houses being swallowed by sink holes. I wouldn’t sleep at that end of the house or maybe even in the house at all. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/19/florida-sinkhole-reopens-two-years-after-it-swallowed-a-sleeping-man-and-killed-him/
depends what caused it. if its a drainage from a busted water pipe somewhere, the issue is far less than if the natural karst is causing it.
Could also be an old grey water cistern that wasn't properly filled in when they stopped using it.
Start looking for a new rental place. That house is about to be condemned, and the city will revoke its certificate of occupancy.
Psh they just got a free underground storage shed
Gotta figure out why it happened and fix that issue first. then you backfill it
The fact that it isn't currently full of water is both a good thing and also somewhat concerning because it might mean it's a seasonal issue which might be a bitch to locate and fix There is a solid chance that it's a limestone cave situation and there's a solid chance that it's a man-made cistern
I'm seconding man made cistern. Just off the front door was a popular place for them and that's a very straight, very smooth hole. It's a circle, not an oval. And when the house eventually got plumbing, a popular way of capping off the old cistern was to just throw a concrete slab on top of the whole mess and call it a new front porch. I know several turn of the century farmhouses with cisterns under their front porches. They can be a real pain to deal with, too. I'm in southern Missouri and the whole area is just riddles with little caves. Sometimes, these old cisterns leaked and would alter water flow underground and make a real mess. But I only know of one specific case of that happening.
There was a reddit post sometime last year or so where someone found a big scary hole in the basement of their home. It ended up being a man-made cistern that had been covered up.
Can confirm, lived in an old farmhouse and had a cistern under the front porch. We actually dug out a trench to one side, punched a hole in the side of the cistern, lined the trench with cinder blocks and put in a stairway, and turned the whole thing into a root cellar.
I also live in an old farmhouse. When adding a deck to the side of our house we had to fill up a cistern that was in that area. A little less than a year later a large hole opened up near our garage that was many feet deep. Turned out that it was an old well. Oh well.
From poot cellar to root cellar.
Can you just backfill one of these with either dirt or concrete? What's OP's options here?
I went to college in Lancaster County PA. Sinkholes are a thing. They started pouring concrete for the coundation of the new science building and it...just went elsewhere. They literally did just keep pouring cement until the hole filled up...or at least that was the rumor around campus.
It's a thing in Central Florida too. Scary.
Yeah, definitely bad in sinkhole alley. Definitely get this fixed right. Don't be like [the guy that fell into one in his bedroom](https://weather.com/news/news/seffner-florida-sinkhole-reopens) in Seffner, FL. He was never found. They have them in many places though. Remember the [Corvette Museum sinkhole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smhOL8I4T_o) in KY?
Yes, I remember that poor guy, him and his bed went under. I felt for him. I don't recall the KY one but I know of many islands where they occur.
It's like dreaming about falling only for it to be reality.
Holy shit, that's terrifying. Poor guy.
Anywhere with “reclaimed” swampland or backfilled muck. Sinkholes are terrifying. Also lots of them around high areas of limestone because it’s so porous.
I've heard that's a thing. Just pouring concrete until the hole fills up. Concrete is cheap, fixing the actual problem is not. I found a sinkhole in a friend's dad's property once. The grass was sunken in a little, i started poking at it and it turns out the grass was just hanging in the air. It was like 2'x4' and probably 4' deep. The house on that property has some really gnarly foundation warping. A lot of door frames are clearly slanting. It's scary.
What would actually fixing the problem look like to you? Pennsylvania has a lot of caves, so this might have just been a small, shallow cave instead of something that happened from recent erosion. They could have filled with gravel if they had known about the issue beforehand, but now that there's wet concrete in the hole, stopping to let it harden and fill with gravel before going back to concrete might just make air pockets for a future sink hole to form from. Also, concrete isn't cheap and there's actually a bit of shortage going on.
And the shortage is only going to get worse!
The bar at the bowling alley in Palmyra isn't called "The Sinkhole" for nothing.
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We're going to need some more walnut to polish out the dent..
A house in our neighborhood was badly damaged by a sink hole a few months ago, the family was ok but had to be evacuated. They are still trying to salvage the house. It's mostly filled in now but here's a pic before the fill. https://imgur.com/B6ScQHU.jpg
I'm curious too, if you're renting you just call the property owner but...who do *they* call??
Ghostbusters
Put it up for rent on Craiglist. Depending on the area an efficiency like that could net you a grand a month!
That’s gonna be expensive. Very worthy addition to the sub.
I fixed one of these for a client when I was in construction. The city allowed us to fill it with slurry, which is concrete with no large aggregate (I believe). It took three truckloads, and it was filled—a relatively inexpensive fix. Edit: To answer the question about this solution being expensive. Relatively is the keyword here. Typically, to backfill a hole (a large hole, not when you're just burying your cat) it's required by city code to do it in layers, e.g., add a foot of soil, compact that with heavy equipment, add another, compact that, and so on. For a sinkhole, it's impossible to get heavy equipment down in there. So it requires first excavating the hole big enough to drive the equipment down into it and then begin building it back correctly - super expensive, if you can imagine. Add the problem that it's near a building, and now there are shoring issues to prevent the foundations from cracking, falling, etc. during the excavation. So yeah, a couple of truck fulls of concrete is dirt cheap (see what I did there?)
Years ago I was helping a buddy put a clothes line in his back yard. Proper old school clothes line with big posts and a long run. Anyways, we start digging and about 6-8 inches into the soil we hit concrete. We both think "Well that's annoying." assuming it's an old post base or maybe a spot somebody dumped a wheelbarrow of concrete decades and decades ago when the house was built. We dig around it for a spell and it becomes clear this is a lot of fucking concrete. Like... Cold War bunker, what the fuck is this thing, lot of concrete. Our excitement was pretty well crushed though when the older neighbor ambled over to see what we were working on and started laughing. Turns out it was the exact situation you describe. The old timer says something along the lines of "Oh yeah, back in the day there was a huge sink hole back here. God knows how many cement mixers worth of concrete are down there. You'll be digging that thing out for the rest of your lives." So presumably under my buddy's backyard there is a concrete "egg" the size of a fucking house.
There's a parallel universe where your neighbor just sipped his drink and watched from the window and you and your friend searched for days for a hatch or any sort of feature before giving up.
And another parallel universe where there *was* a hatch
What if there still is and that's where the neighbor disposed the bodies?
"Yeah that's just concrete, hahaha. No need to investigate further. You boys want to come over and watch me clean my guns?"
Thankfully the neighbor came by and said something. Imagine he just quietly thought to himself "I wonder how many days it will take for them to just give up" lmao
The good news is with a post bracket and some concrete anchors, you can make damn sure that post won't lean.
That was my thought, they poured the foundation for your post before you ever bought the house
Ah, I just assumed when he said he could see his foundations that some more serious reinforcement may be necessary.
"Oi mate, zat your sinkhole? That's gonna be 100 bucks mate, easy. Oh yeah right now. Pay, idk, the govment er SOMEbuddy. Better hurry on it, dey put people in da hole fer stuff like chyat"
I have this hole that keeps opening up near the side of my house. Seems like no matter how much we fill it in, it keeps coming back. I'm completely convinced it's a sinkhole, which is one of my biggest fears, but my husband says it isn't. Whenever I go to that side of the house I walk as far away as possible for this exact reason. I'm not about to die that way.
Time to send in a GoPro on a string
Just hope it doesn't end up in a river of slime.
If it does, just be sure to sing “your love keeps lifting me higher and higher”
Is it an open hole or more like a depression. It used to be common to bury things you wanted to get rid of. It could be something like an old stump or a pile of garbage decaying underground.
It's an open hole that's big enough that our blind cat fell in it a couple years ago and couldn't get out. My husband says it was a backfill problem around the foundation. We have found some bricks and a few small pieces of concrete in there when filling it with some heavy clay dirt from my parent's place. It hasn't opened up since we filled it last year but if we don't keep the gutters clean, it overflows right there and it opens right back up.
The fact that you found construction debris in it makes me think I'm on the right track with something being buried there and it is now settling.
Hmm ... Sounds like a body.
Please tell me your cat lived
It wasn't that deep. Just deep enough that she couldn't get out. I wouldn't let her out there if there was a chance of her getting hurt.
I just wanted to pop by and reassure you about your sinkhole. Obviously, land varies and you should talk to someone about the geology of your area. But I live in southern Missouri. Everything under me is limestone that is constantly eroding and developing sinkholes and caves. Learning about the area's geology is something of a hobby of mine. In part, because I have a sinkhole in my front yard that sounds like yours. Forty years ago, my dad laid in a new gravel driveway. He only half-way prepared it and so no one was surprised when the back side started disappearing into the grass. So he fixed it and brought in a new load of gravel. The next year, he did it again. And again. Over the next twenty years that spot ate so much gravel and we eventually gave up trying to use that area and moved the driveway. (it's a rural area and we have twenty acres to play with, so it wasn't a big problem.) This kind of sinkhole is more of a dirt flow. When water flows through the soil (like when it rains) the soil in that area liquefies enough that heavier bits sink to the bottom, sometimes flowing into pockets nearby, sometimes forming underground "rivers" of soil. Some are just giant mud holes that seem to be more because heavier stuff sinks and the lighter particles float to the top. That sounds a little scary until you remember that we don't build houses on soil. When we can't build on stone, we compress and compact the ground so it's stable and level. And cities and towns are a network of buildings and roads that have further solidified the ground Not to mention a few hundred years (or more) of people living there before you to find those problems. So the big scary sinkholes that open up and swallow you? If your view looks like this don't worry about them. And the one in your yard is probably just a pocket of water keeping the soil liquid. Plant something there that likes wet soil, like a willow tree and it'll do great and help stabilize the yard, too. (OP's "sinkhole" is probably a man-made cistern which should have been disclosed to her, but they were renting.)
I live in Michigan so I know we don't have huge issues like states with caves and limestone. I do appreciate the reassurance though. I think I know it's not actually one of those swallow your whole house holes but damn, it's still scary to think about.
I'm serious about planting a tree there. Something hardwood and slow-growing. It should be able to send down deep roots and should rarely need watering. The roots will help stabilize the soil and reduce the erosion and a big sturdy tree there should help be a reminder that the ground is solid there. Symbiosis with your environment.
As someone who has fallen into a sinkhole, you dodged a fucking bullet mate
How’d you fall into one?
More like how did you get out?
Who says they did?
1% battery >well, time to hit the reddits
He died the way he lived... Wasting time on reddit
So back in January 2 years ago I was just walking in my own front yard with my dog early in the morning. I step on a particular spot of dirt and the ground gives way. I fell about 10 feet down where I hit a large rock. I almost fell further down below the rock but I brace myself against the wall with my torso above the rock and my legs under it. Luckily I had my phone in my pocket so I was able to call 911 from the hole. I fell about 10 feet down but according to the firemen the hole went down about 20. it was a crazy experience, I lost a slipper and a beanie in it, then a few days later my bother in law visits and accidentallydrops his glasses down there. To this day I can't see someone going underground without panicking
> To this day I can't see someone going underground Neither can your brother in law
What happened to your dog?
He didn't fall in, he's still fine
Thank goodness omfg
Asking the important questions.
Fucking hell that is random and scary
So you just drop the bombshell like that and peaces the fuck out without elaborating any further?
Sorry, I didn't think anyone would be interested. I told the story in a different reply
Has super interesting story, relevant to the thread. "Nah, nobody wants to hear about that."
Self loathing is a hell of a drug man
What part of the country? Looks like you found the cistern.
Cistern? I’m in central Va.
Basically a hollow concrete/stone tank underground for holding rain water, which could then be pumped out of the tank for household use. They were commonly used before indoor plumbing.
Well the house was built in 1933 so…possible?
Maybe that, or maybe old septic tank. Or, plumbing leak caused it. I think it's gotta be one of those. You don't seem to be in an area that has many natural sinkholes.
The Appalachia mountains are primarily limestone. Limestone is notorious for eroding, so my man is surrounded by sinkhole material.
A drywell might be similar.
Central VA definitely could be limestone caves. Hopefully not
In second the cistern. I lived in an old house, originally built in the early 1900s and had a major reno in the 20s that had an old cistern. We didn't know about it until it started to cave in. Ours already had a bunch of junk in it from previous people trying to fill it in. No matter how much was put down there it would still sink. Good luck with whatever you have.
It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.
That looks like an old well or cistern. Hopefully it is, if it’s a true sinkhole, your house is going to be condemned probably.
Actually I think you are right! I googled cisterns and found an image of a pipe that connects to the gutter drain pipe to collect water. We have a pipe sticking out of the ground about 5 feet from the hole. It’s on the corner of the house where a drain pipe comes down. You can just barely see the gutter drain pipe at the edge of the porch.
Requesting 1 update post at some point please
Putting the "Well" in r/Wellthatsucks!
They are telling the property owner, so it seems they are renters. Which makes it either much better or much worse
I'd definitely hate to be the property owner😬
Being the one that doesn’t have the legal or financial obligation to deal with it is definitely much better
Not a counter, but an "also-sucks"... If like a lot of renters, myself included,they don't have the cash to get a new place. There's no way I could afford to move suddenly. Not a chance. I'd be homeless.
Yeah if we have to move we are screwed. Gonna have to live with friends for quite a while.
Saw you’re in Virginia and don’t know the exact nature of your housing agreement, but you should be aware that the property owner may be required to supply you housing while the situation is remedied. >B. Upon the sole determination by the landlord of the existence of a nonemergency property condition in the dwelling unit that requires the tenant to temporarily vacate the dwelling unit in order for the landlord to properly remedy such property condition, the landlord may, upon at least 30 days' written notice to the tenant, require the tenant to temporarily vacate the dwelling unit for a period not to exceed 30 days to a comparable dwelling unit, or hotel, as selected by the landlord and at no expense or cost to the tenant. The landlord shall not be required to pay for any other expenses of the tenant that arise after the temporary relocation period. The landlord and tenant may agree for the tenant to temporarily vacate the dwelling unit in less than 30 days. For purposes of this subsection, "nonemergency property condition" means (i) a condition in the dwelling unit that, in the determination of the landlord, is necessary for the landlord to remedy in order for the landlord to be in compliance with § 55.1-1220; (ii) the condition does not need to be remedied within a 24-hour period, with any condition that needs to be remedied within 24 hours being defined as an "emergency condition"; and (iii) the condition can only be effectively remedied by the temporary relocation of the tenant pursuant to the provisions of this subsection. >The tenant shall continue to be responsible for payment of rent under the rental agreement during the period of any temporary relocation. The landlord shall pay all costs of repairs or remediation required to address the nonemergency property condition. Refusal of the tenant to cooperate with a temporary relocation pursuant to this subsection shall be deemed a breach of the rental agreement, unless the tenant agrees to vacate the unit and terminate the rental agreement within the 30-day notice period. If the landlord properly remedies the nonemergency property condition within the 30-day period, nothing in this section shall be construed to entitle the tenant to terminate the rental agreement. Further, nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the landlord from taking legal action against the tenant for any noncompliance that occurs during the period of any temporary relocation pursuant to this subsection. During the pendency of an unlawful detainer filed by the landlord against the tenant, the landlord may request the court to enter an order requiring the tenant to provide the landlord with access to such dwelling unit. Per § 55.1-1229 https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/virginia-residential-landlord-and-tenant-act/
Thanks man, I was actually aware of some kind of regulation like that but didn’t know where to look, thank you!!!!
Eh…. Depends on the sinkhole. Some of them can be worked around with proper engineering and supports. But some of them involve caves or mines, and the house is fucked.
That's gonna need lots of Ramen.
Great, now I'm afraid of snow.
You will likely be moving soon.
Well seems like you got your chance to travel to the center of earth now. Maybe it is better than the movie?
May be a portal to the underworld like the movie [The Gate](https://youtu.be/bK025i4L69c).
My first thought too. Watch out for little demons and dead dogs coming back to life. Also google to see if dead workers are buried in your walls. Play all metal albums backwards just incase.
What are you doing in my corpse hatch… er, I mean, innocence tube?
Go buy a lottery ticket
I just did because of your comment, if I win you’ll get a piece.
Hi it's me [DiamondDoge92](/user/DiamondDoge92), but this is my alternate Reddit account. Use this one to send the millions.
Lol
I'm just here to edit my comment to congratulations when you win.
About 100 years ago in Portland, OR, before there was a sewer system, each house had a cesspool in the yard (a cesspool is basically a covered hole or buried tank, and everything that pours down the house drain flows into it). When the city finally installed a sewer they never made a law detailing how to properly decommission the now unused cesspools. As a result, most of the cesspools were simply covered over and forgotten about. People bought and sold homes, planted gardens, time moved on. In the mid 90's, people began disappearing. The rain had eroded away so much that in some places there was only 6" of dirt holding up the grass above a drop into a liquidy demise. One moment, your putting the rake away, the next moment, the grass is quickly rising toward you, then darkness and a splash into old water. The only light coming from the you-sized hole 15' above the surface of the water. Many of these holes have been filled with concrete, but in the older neighborhoods, they still claim 1 or 2 people a year.
New fear unlocked
Glad you are safe. That would have been terrifying
yikes i hope you're home remains safe to live in
Do you have a sump? This happened to me a few years back, the pipe from my sump cracked and caused a sinkhole about 8 feet deep and 8 feet wide with just a small 1 foot hole at the surface. I thought the dog had been digging, then I realize what it was.
Can u see china thru the tunnel?
Holy crap you almost had your own journey there.
3m wide and 4.57m deep for non-Americans
How alive would you still have been had you fallen down right then? Also, that's fuckin scary
I would like to think alive. I probably would have messed up an ankle and hit my head at the very least.
New fear unlocked!
r/FinalDestinationShit
Congratulations, you now own a man cave
Wtf
That's some Final Destination stuff
Jeeeeze! Glad you’re ok Imagine falling down there in a snow storm with just a T-shirt, then not being able to get out and no one hearing you scream because the dirt deadens sound. NIGHTMARE
Could be an old cesspit. My former house had a situation like this. It had a concrete lid which cracked and broke. It only had about 6" of soil on it. It happened about a week before I was supposed to close on it. The owner got a truckload of soil to fill it. It sank in more in subsequent years, and I filled it with more soil excavated when I built a block wall around the backyard.
Happened in Tampa back in 2013 to Jeff Bush, a 30ft deep hole opened up beneath the guys bed while he was sleeping. It ended up swallowing most of the house and they never found the poor guy! You can still find the story online...terrifying!
Any chance you could take more pictures of it during the day?
Shit like this is why I'm fat. Can't fall to my death if I get stuck first!
glad you're on r/wellthatsucks instead of seeing you on r/eyeblech from a first responder posting. Much love
Those sides seem really smooth. Looks like a manmade hole for whatever use that was covered up.
Yeah, I’d not sleep in that house until you have a full engineering inspection.
If you had a bucket of water on you, you would have been fine