Sinkhole near Cane Garden
 

WOW, hope they had coverage.

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...inkhole005.jpg

That's a shame.

Where did you get the picture and when did this happen?
Thanks.
JJ

Just happened, I believe sometime last night.

There was a brief article in today's paper about this. Your picture speaks volumes. YIKES!!!

Good reinforcement that we should all protect our investments with sinkhole coverage. Could happen anywhere at anytime.

L2... I know this is close to your primary TV home. If you see or hear any updates on the remedy, Villages role, etc I'm sure many will be appreciative of whatever you can share.

Yes, our primary home is about 1/2 mile away and one of our rental homes is about 300 yards away. So I will be watching it very closely.

Watch that first step. It's a doozy!

WOWWY WOWWY WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sure hope they had sinkholee coverage. Very unsettling.

Dang!! Hope that's it - done and over with. It'll be complete disaster if it grows any more.

Bill :)

Sink hole
 

Does this happen all at once or over a period of time...hours, days etc..? I've never seen anything like this and it's a little scary.

I noticed by the picture, that the corner of the home looks like there's no footer or foundation. Also, the sidewalk that fell looks very thin compared to what I am use to seeing. Can anybody answer if the homes are built on foundations, or is just a concrete slab considered enough? I've never seen construction in progress and would love to hear from an engineer or a knowledgable Villager. Thanks

Footers are poured for the homes then slabs on top.

Looks as though there is the appearance of a footer on that front corner of the house, set back in behind where the downspout is crossing horizontally. Or maybe I'm seeing things.......

Not sure of the code requirements for depth of the footers in FL. Might not be more than a foot or so! Certainly not like 3'-4' or more like what might be experienced 'up north'.

Bill :)

WOW Does home insurance cover this?

Yes, sinkhole coverage does.....if you have it.

Wow !!!
 

Look at the front door area. See the gap on top of the door from left to right. The foundation appears to be missing under the front porch area too. This home has some issues... Hope it can be saved.

:ohdear: WOW You have a house here and don't know.:shocked:

Daily Sun Coverage
 

There have been a number of sinkholes in The Villages-- generally unreported by The Daily Sun. I wonder of the reporting of this one was an editorial oversight or if the Sun is actually becoming a newspaper.

Tommy, what looks like the door being racked could be a shadowing issue at the top of the door - might just be how the light appears to be hitting it. But you might be right as well, though nothing else with the house looks off at all.

I believe a porch like that might be poured as a slab without any footer, just like a patio would be poured. It doesn't appear that it's supporting any part of the house so no footers would be necessary.

Bill :)

From what I've learned after living in FL for over a decade is there's no hard and fast rule. There might be cracking over a period of time in foundations, flooring, and walls, or it could just go caboom. I don't know what the circumstances of this case were.

Unfortunately, this is probably not an isolated event. Hernando county, which is dubbed the sinkhole capital of FL, has had whole neighborhoods wiped out. When you live in sinkhole alley, you must keep your sinkhole insurance coverage up to date. Number of residential sinkhole claims filed with Citizens Insurance in 2011: statewide 4024, Hernando County 1920.

I agree.

As a wannabee:

Does sinkhole coverage include living in other accomodations until this is investigated and resolved?

I know I wouldn't feel safe if this happened. I would need to be reassured everything would be OK.

Don't assume
 

that because a particular homeowner policy might cover alternate accommodations if home is unlivable while being repaired, that all of them do.

Just like 3 people might have liability coverage on their auto insurance, but one policy might exclude coverage if driver is convicted of dui when the accident occurred, or might deny coverage if the at-fault driver had no valid driver's license (perhaps they let the renewal date slip by). ALL POLICIES ARE NOT THE SAME.

This would be a good time for everyone to go read their policies and make sure you understand what is and is not covered.

Seems as though the Daily Sun just can not win. If they don't publish they are damned, if they do then it must be a mistake.

Does anyone know the answer to this question. The deed restrictions I have read require the owner to rebuild a home that is damaged or destroyed. ( I am assuming to avoid blight and empty lots. How do you do that if you get a sinkhole? It would be one thing to repair a hole next your house, and hope it do not expand and damage the house.. but if there was a hole under the house, who would ever rebuild on a such a lot.. even if you had the guts to try it, how would you ever sell it later?
JJ

:agree: This bears repeating, repeating, repeating. :blahblahblah:

And learn the difference between sinkhole coverage and catastrophic ground collapse. (hint--there is a whole thread on this)

Four years ago a neighbor in our former village had 2 sink holes along side and in back of the home. The holes were plugged with concrete and filled in. Then large holes (looked like at least 6 to a side) were bored in to angle under the home on all 4 sides and concrete was pumped in, apparently to fill in and support the slab. A neighbor told me that at least 15 truck loads were needed to just fill the holes drilled. I noticed all seemed to be fine when I recently drove past that property.
I assume the owner will have to disclose in event of a resale. While I would hesitate to buy it, it probably sits a lot more solid than its neighbors.

I think I'm in the land of OZ! Ykes! Really scary.

Thanks.
JJ

Good questions and answer. Lots of great info by our smart members to be learned and retained.

:ohdear: Remember .... this was posted by an attorney.:blahblahblah:


Attorney Joke : A golfer hooked his tee shot over a hill and onto the next fairway. Walking toward his ball, he saw a man lying on the ground, groaning with pain.

"I'm an attorney," the wincing man said, "and this is going to cost you $5000."

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," the concerned golfer replied. "But I did yell 'fore'."

"I'll take it," the attorney said.:1rotfl:

Didn't your sales person explain the risks of sink holes in this neck of the woods?

They can repair a sinkhole. They pump in concrete to reinforce the underlayers. This part of The Villages is about seven years old I would guess. I recall reading on this forum that a sinkhole happened on or close to a pond before we moved here more than four years ago in the Spanish sounding area. The ground here and hereabouts is sand as it is in most of Florida.

I think Avogado is dead wrong and there is no issues about sinkholes that we don't know about. We live here. We hear and see things. We know what is going on. We talk, we post, we email. Stop with the cover up stuff.

However the paper was incorrect if you go by the picture. The hole is NOT 20-30 foot deep, it is 20-30 foot wide. It looks to be no more than seven foot deep at the deepest from the picture.

We have flooding and water in basements and cracked foundation up north. I don't know where Hernando county is but we live in either Lake, Marion and mostly Sumter county in The Villages.

I feel bad for these folks but I bet that their property will be liveable and safe again in a matter of days.

:agree:

I agree with you Gracie. Florida is the sinkhole capital of the US, I believe. Has to do with what is under the top layer of soil.
Just in case you'd like more info on the nasty things, check out this link... FGS, Sinkholes in Florida

Come on . . .
 

Do you think that in Texas agents mention the risks of drought? That you should be sure to water your foundation? Or in Kansas or the rest of the Midwest and South that they mention tornadoes to someone moving there from the West Coast? Or on the east coast the possibility of hurricanes? Or lightning strikes anywhere there are thunderstorms? Of course not.

I remember that when I moved to California, I was a little afraid of earthquakes, but I don't remember the agent saying, "You know, we get a lot of earthquakes out here." I do remember that my native Californian neighbor was terrified of the rare thunderstorms when they occurred.

I am sure that if you asked, the agents (in all places) would have said something like, "yes, they occur, but the possibility of it happening to you is minimal", which it is. They would probably advise you to buy sinkhole coverage.

I now understand why the Daily Sun doesn't report it. And next time I will ignore it as well. :icon_wink:

Sinkholes are a risk in Florida. Here is an excellent description of the situation and of the insurance coverage that is available for sinkhole coverage and catastrophic-ground-collapse coverage: Sinkholes and Catastrophic Ground Collapse

Catastrophic ground coverage is required in all homeowners' policies, but sinkhole coverage is optional. If you don't want to take chances, you need to get both kinds of coverage.

Website with information on insurance coverage
 

Sinkholes are a risk in Florida. Here is an excellent summary of the situation and of the insurance coverage that is available for sinkhole coverage and catastrophic-ground-collapse coverage: Sinkholes and Catastrophic Ground Collapse

Catastrophic ground coverage is required in all homeowners' policies, but sinkhole coverage is optional. If you don't want to take chances, you need to get BOTH kinds of coverage.

You did great reporting it. The Daily Sun DID report it Chris. They said it was 20-30 foot DEEP. It looks to be about that wide. If you took the picture, how deep, wide, would you say?

Kudos for the Daily Sun
 

Hey, I am happy that the Sun reported it.

I just pointed out that stories reflecting unfavorably on The Villages or the Developer (murders, robberies, IRS investigation, the class-action lawsuit, dealings between the Developer and the CDDs controlled by the Developer, the Morse poaching indictment, etc.) are generally not reported by the Sun or are buried on back pages.

If reporting this story, which would certainly be reported in the local newspaper in any other community of comparable size, marks a new "page" for the Sun, good. On the other hand, if reporting it was an editorial mistake, heads will roll.