Sinkholes (McMinnville, Crossville, Sparta: homeowners insurance, how much, new home)

[vacation bound]

I have a sinkhole on my property in Sparta (at least that is what I'm told it is) and everyone around me seems to have the same sort of thing on theirs. I know about the kind we have in Florida, but these seem different to me. When I was in Sparta in Nov I was driving on top of the hill on my property and my tire went into a hole. I looked at it and it was probably two feet wide by maybe a foot deep. I am wondering if this is something to be concerned with? I plan on building a home in the next couple of years and don't want to build over land that may collapse. I tried looking at threads and didn't really find an answer to my question.

[RSMTN]

A just recently opened Dollar General store is about 3 miles from our house on the edge of Overton county. Prior to starting construction I noticed what I thought was well drilling activity on the property. When they started construction I realized what I thought was well drilling must have core sampling.

Before any foundation work was started they trucked in load after load of red clay fill dirt until the lot was built up at least 15 to 20 feet. Then they poured the slab for the store.

So I guess one could assume that the results of the core sampling showed that the current soil composition would not support the kind of structure they wanted to build and they made the necessary changes.

I'm certainly no expert on this subject but I would think there are proper tests you could do to answer your questions.

Then there is the story about a friend of mine having an old gold mine start to cave in about 20 or 30 feet from the edge of his house. But that's another story............

[TN Tin Man]

As I understand " Grassy Cove " RT 68 South East of Crossville is one of the larger sink holes in the state..
Tennessee Landforms -- Sinkholes

I think it's from all the lime stone in that area...

[vacation bound]

I guess I am going to have to get someone out to check out the property before I start to build to be on the safe side. I have nightmares of the house being swallowed up. LOL

[TN Tin Man]

Try contacting U.S. Geological Survey, Tennessee they may have resources for you.
There should be also a private contractors for doing hydrological survey.. the above link may have those resources..in white county.

[skinem]

Unfortunately, sinkholes are a fact of life around here...well, really anywhere there is a lot of limestone.

The trouble is, they can occur regardless of how much soil and core sampling is done. Usually a result of an underground cave collapse, those collapses can occur much deeper than sampled.

Earlier this year, a sinkhole about ate a large portion of I-65 in North Alabama. It had to be closed for some time while it was repaired. If I remember right, they pumped and unreal amount of concrete into the uncollapsed portion of a cavern and filled in the rest.

Within the last 2 years, a nearby new home was ruined when a sinkhole opened up in it's yard causing a great deal of damage to the house.

I may be wrong about this, but if I remember right, the average homeowners insurance policy doesn't cover sinkholes and coverage for them requires a special rider...

Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying homes are disappearing left and right, but it's not unknown.

[mrs1885]

I think someone that knows what they're doing taking a look at the area you'd like to put the house is a good idea. But in all honesty, Skinem is right. I'm just down the highway from Sparta, between there and McMinnville, on the other side of the highway from Rock Island. My neighbor has one in his yard that he had to have a load of fill dirt brought in every year for the last few years he was alive so he could fill it. His son is just letting it go. We've got a small one in our front yard. It's honestly SMALL so we don't bother with it. I've kept an eye on it and if it gets bigger we'll go the neighbor route and fill it in.

Small ones are so common. I bet you can walk all the land out there and find them in most people's yard's. But the good news is they all seem to be really small and don't affect much. I didn't know most insurance policies don't cover them though. I'll have to call about ours...... Rather be safe than sorry, and as cheap as the HO insurance is, it shouldn't be too hard to tack that on.

[vacation bound]

Thanks for the info. Next trip up there I will see if the new hole is any bigger and if so I will try to get it filled in a see what happens. The other one I have is a little too big for me to deal with myself. Going to need a dozer for that. LOL.

[JoAnn5]

Limestone caves honeycomb the area around here. There is a large sinkhole in Belvidere that fell in many years ago... The farmer was plowing around it with his old mule when the mule fell in. They tried many ways to get the mule out, but couldn't.. finally the mule wandered away down an underground passage and they thought that was the last they'd ever see of their mule... that he'd gone off somewhere and would die. A week or two later, the mule wandered out of a cave opening several miles away near Broadview community.

My husband's grandfather was the mule dealer around the area and knew this to be true.

When the new 4 lane highway was built very near the old sinkhole, I kept thinking of this story and worrying that the ground might cave in again with all the heavy traffic and machinery. Sure enough, the road had barely been open when 2 small sinkholes occurred just to the side of the highway (each 4 - 6 feet in diameter and 5 or 6 feet deep). Makes me wonder if another might occur someday under the highway itself.

I-24 had a large sinkhole open near the Pelham exit recently. Took a bit of doing to repair it, i think.

[TN Tin Man]

Large Sinkhole Closes I-24 in Grundy County | TN.gov Newsroom