I bought a new construction house in Dec last year.

Most has gone well.

I have discovered a sink hole directly under our poured concrete front
porch. There is a small crack in the porch and it appears to me the
only think holding up the cement is rebar.

There is a 3" gap under the porch (between porch bottom and grass to
one side).

I had a contractor coming to quote me on another job, unrelated. He
pointed this out to me on his may into the house.

How would anyone suggest a sink hole like this get fixed? The
contractor suggested some "57 gravel" and top soil.

I hope I remembered the gravel term correctly. Please explain or ask
questions as needed. thank you.

http://www.leo.lehigh.edu/envirosci/...es/repair.html

avid_hiker wrote:
http://www.leo.lehigh.edu/envirosci/...es/repair.html

this is real close to the foundation of the house, and has difficult
access (this is under a poured concrete front step).

To implement this solution would be "expensive".

If not repaired correctly....it will cost you more later
on....garunteed. That is if the sink hole is a BIG sinkhole awaiting to
be show you and your home just how big it is. Here is a link to what
can happen if not corrected in a timely fashion.

http://www.myrottlundhome.com/time.htm

The contractors solution may solve your problem, its worth a shot.
However, does he have much experience in dealing with sinkholes? To be
on the safe side, make sure whoever does deal with it, knows how to
deal with it.

The link above on the previous post was posted only beacuse noone was
replying to it and meant to tell you how to deal with it the proper
way. If you want to take short cuts to save money......then
unfortunatly there is no garuntee it will not return; that is unless
this contractor puts that in the contract and will correct if this
returns.

But I do hope that no HUGE problems arise from this hole like this
attached link.

"jIM" wrote on 01 Dec 2006:

I have discovered a sink hole directly under our poured concrete
front porch. There is a small crack in the porch and it appears
to me the only think holding up the cement is rebar.

I'd be extremely surprised if this were a real sinkhole. It's
common that after the builder has excavated for the foundation, the
perimeter is filled with construction trash that rots away, or good
fill is used, but isn't compacted. As a result, when settling
occurs, your steps lose their ground support.

The correct way to fix this is as your contractor described --
remove the old soil, replace with gravel/topsoil, and properly
compact. You may have to demolish the existing steps to do this.


--
Doug Boulter

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