From: clewis@nortelnetworks.com (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: alt.building.construction alt.home.lawn.garden alt.home.repair misc.consumers.house rec.gardens
Subject: Re: sinkhole!
Date: 28 Jul 2004 20:51:37 GMT
Originator: clewis@nortelnetworks.com (Chris Lewis)

According to Bob S. :

> Don't panic!  This is a very common occurence when tree trunks are
> covered over and eventually decay. I step in them all the time.  A
> true sink hole is almost always much larger than the one you describe
> (10+ ft diameter).

It depends on soil conditions and the exact cause.  The ones you
hear about in the papers are the big ones.  Like the auto dealership
in Florida that disappeared one day.

We have two "lines" of sink holes on our property.  They vary from
a foot or two in diameter/deep to about 6' wide and 7' deep.

The day we moved in, went out and gave the SO and 2yo child a
fun ride in the lawn tractor & trailer we had gotten with the
house....  About a foot to the right, and the tractor, trailer
and whole fandamily would have disappeared into the sinkhole we
just barely missed.

Tiny hole at the surface (if any), wide void underneath.  Definately
not tree stumps.

Very fine sand (our area is infamous for its sand), and what appears
to be an artesian well flowing over the bedrock is the cause I think.
Which limits the depth to something short of lethal.

Fell into one to the level of my armpits once...  Didn't help
I had just seen Tremors for the first time ;-)

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100814/ follow the links to the trailer ;-)]

The line extends under the paved country road.  Few years ago
watched a maintenance worker try to fill one with a shovel thru
a hole in the pavement.  Had to empty just about the whole
pickup truck bed.

We knock the edges in and keep an eye on them.  One set
was knocked down and re-leveled when we had an loader over
to do something else.
-- 
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.