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Wyckoff, NJ
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Lexington, KY
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[#2] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 1:39:09 PM |  |  |
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I'm wondering why the footer is seven-plus feet deep--especially since the house is 100 years old?
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Wyckoff, NJ
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[#3] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 1:46:04 PM | | |
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The hole is seven feet but that footing is only about 4'. It actually had some bearing on the soil that was left. No signs in the hole of any old tanks, wells, cisterns, etc. All of the utilities go in and out the front. The area is steep with retaining walls heading down from the hole. There is an old poured concrete retaining wall about 8' from the hole but it is upright and solid. I would love to know where several cubic yards of soil goes that quickly.
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We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them
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Crystal Lake, IL
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Lexington, KY
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[#5] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 3:24:44 PM | | |
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| Quote: Originally posted by allseason
The hole is seven feet but that footing is only about 4'. It actually had some bearing on the soil that was left. No signs in the hole of any old tanks, wells, cisterns, etc. All of the utilities go in and out the front. The area is steep with retaining walls heading down from the hole. There is an old poured concrete retaining wall about 8' from the hole but it is upright and solid. I would love to know where several cubic yards of soil goes that quickly.
I know a guy who had a party--at which I was in attendance--at his 100-year-old house on a Saturday, and when he walked out his front door the following Monday, there was a thirty foot deep, fifteen foot wide hole in his backyard. No one will ever know why the soil decided to give way at that particular point in time.
The soils and strucural engineers will offer up possibillities, but they can't see any deeper into that hole than we can, and they'll be just as clueless about whether it will happen again. One could core-drill a bunch of holes, which MIGHT prove enlightening, but the cost would be in the tens of thousands of dollars and there's really no point.
I say just fix the thing and tell the owner to keep her fingers crossed.
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Wyckoff, NJ
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[#6] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 3:34:54 PM | | |
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I have a pretty good idea that the muni engineer wants to see if the house is safe as that footing currently holds up, or once held up a corner of a one floor addition. I'll defer to the engineers and see what they come up with. The whole area looks like steep slope cut and fill circa 1910.
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We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them
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Lafayette, Louisiana
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[#7] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 3:38:20 PM | | |
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For those who haven't seen it yet: The mother of all sinkholes.
Click to View
61.93 KB
Marc
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"If Guam gets too overpopulated, it might tip over."
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Wyckoff, NJ
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[#8] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 3:59:09 PM | | |
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If that's the mother I'd hate to meet the mother in law.
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We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them
Albert Einstein |
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Friday Harbor, WA
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[#9] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 5:23:27 PM | | |
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No doubt the Seattle area guys know it, but a few of those have happened as tunnels were dug nearby, quite a ways underground. Any subways, mine shafts, or cross-border drug tunnels in the area?
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Wyckoff, NJ
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[#10] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 5:33:44 PM | | |
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Not to anyone's knowledge. It may be a result of the 100 year old cut and fill.
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Georgetown, KY
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Victoria, British Columbia
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[#12] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 9:02:46 PM | | |
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Thanks, Erby. Those are some amazing holes. I like the idea of turning them into tourist traps. 
The city of Vancouver BC had a big sinkhole swallow 3 traffic lanes in December. Lucky it was a Sunday afternoon and nobody drove into the hole. Then they had a smaller one just about a month ago. Can't blame that one on the rain. They just fill the holes and pave them, AFAIK.
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Kenmore, WA
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[#13] Posted: 09/21/2011 - 11:06:38 PM | | |
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Maybe there was some mining done in the area a century ago and there's a tunnel down there somewhere that's collapsed.
Old drained and dry aquafir collapse?
ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!
Mike
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