Signs To Watch For

What You Should Know About Sinkhole Homes

• Have you noticed stair step cracks on the exterior of your home?

• Do you see drywall separating away from the ceilings?

• Are you seeing cracks in your ceiling, near windows and doors?

• Do you feel a noticeable slope of the floor?

• Do you hear popping or a sound like ice cracking?

• Cracks in interior joint areas, windows or doors
• Cracks in your exterior block or stucco
• Windows and doors become harder to close properly
• Depressions in your yard or the street or other yards near you
• Deep cracks and separation of paved concrete walks and drives
• Circular patches of wilting plants
• Sediment in your water
• Neighbors have had or confirmed possible sinkhole activity
• Observation of an actual cavity beginning to open

These may be signs of settlement or sinkhole activity

Limestone, with its high calcium carbonate content, is easily dissolved in the acids produced by organic materials. About 10% of the earth's land (and 15% of the U.S.A.) surface consists of soluble limestone, which can be easily dissolved by the weak solution of carbonic acid found in underground water. When limestone interacts with underground water, the water dissolves the limestone to form karst topography - an amalgamation of caves, underground channels, and a rough and bumpy ground surface. Karst topography is named for the Kras plateau region of eastern Italy and western Slovenia (Kras is Karst in German for "barren land").

The underground water of karst topography carves our impressive channels and caves that are susceptible to collapse from the surface. When enough limestone is eroded from underground, a sinkhole (also called a doline) may develop. Sinkholes are depressions that form when a portion of the lithosphere below is eroded away.

Sinkholes can range in size from a few feet or meters to over 100 meters (300 feet) deep. They've been known to "swallow" cars, homes, businesses, and other structures. Sinkholes are common in Florida where they're often caused by the loss of groundwater from pumping.