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Old 05-30-2007, 09:13 PM
 
1 posts, read 7,712 times
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We are in the process of building a house on property we just bought in Kona, Hawaii. While doing some excavating we foung a LAVA TUBE. Any info on whether it is safe to build over a lava tube. We dare not ask the building dept - who knows what they would say we would have to do and it probably would cost a fortune.
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Old 05-30-2007, 11:44 PM
 
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Where is the property located? I can tell you this, I would not build anything significant over a lava tube. My brother in law was operating a backhoe on a job in North Kona and half of the backhoe fell in a underground lava tube, very dangerous. Depending on it's size, backfilling it may be an option? Just make sure it doesn't contain bones or any ancient Hawaiian artifacts etc.
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Old 05-31-2007, 12:51 AM
 
Location: Pahoa Hawaii
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Avoid it , build next to it, don't mention it. It makes life much easier.
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Old 05-31-2007, 04:55 AM
 
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Get a geotechnical (soils) engineer to take a look at the lava tube.
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Old 06-03-2007, 11:31 PM
 
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
2,682 posts, read 7,569,617 times
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Grow some pakalolo down there, pay off the house in no time! Only joking, well, sort of. Worked on a house down on the beach in Makenna a while back, during a south swell I was setting cabinets, and the bubble in the level wouldn't settle down, waves were hitting in the tube, giving the whole place a bit of a shake. House was built on top of a lava tube that was partially under water, house is still there. I would think it would all depend upon the space between your foundation and the void created by the tube. Whats the distance between the two? And don't forget, if this is any kind of a subdivision, you're not the only one with this problem.

Aloha,
Thomas Praetzel
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Old 11-05-2012, 03:11 PM
 
1 posts, read 5,176 times
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Default Lava tube

We just found our house is built over a lava tube that has started to cave in. In the place of the cave in our house has settled a lot and we are going to pour cement into the area to stabilize the house. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
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Old 11-05-2012, 03:22 PM
 
Location: Volcano
12,969 posts, read 28,422,673 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katrina2000 View Post
. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
It all depends on the size of the tube and where it is, and if there are others alongside it or under it.

You need to engage the services of a geotechnical engineer immediately, rather than trying to work it out yourself. You could inadvertently make the situation worse.
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Old 11-05-2012, 04:01 PM
 
1,730 posts, read 3,809,055 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katrina2000 View Post
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
You now have discovered something that forever will need to be disclosed when selling the property. My suggestion is to start working on the phrasing, 'cuz it will really take some time consuming wordsmithing.
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Old 11-06-2012, 08:56 AM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,634 posts, read 47,975,309 times
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I wouldn't mind having a lava tube if it could be kitted out all nice as my own underground cave.

Because of the danger of collapse, I would not knowingly build over the top of one. Add my vote to the suggestion that you get an engineer to take a look. It was some good luck that the OP found it before building on it (back in '07, so this has probably been resolved).
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