What Are the Warning Signs of a Sinkhole?
There are several early warning signs—both inside and outside your home—which may indicate a sinkhole is beginning to form. Click here to learn what they are.
Written by Andrew Biro
Reviewed by Melanie Reiff
Table of Contents
- What is a sinkhole?
- What causes a sinkhole?
- Early sinkhole warning signs
- How to protect your home against sinkholes
- How to save on home and auto insurance
- FAQs
Load full table of contents
Depressions in your yard, water pooling around the foundation, fresh exposure of roots or fence posts, sagging floors, and the cracking of walls, flooring, and pavement are some of the most common sinkhole warning signs. Being able to recognize these signs is the best way to avoid costly foundation repairs or other home damage down the line.
If left unchecked, sinkholes can lead to thousands of dollars in damages to your home and property, potentially resulting in a total loss of property altogether. Learning to identify the early warning signs of these disasters is an important skill for any homeowner, along with knowing the conditions that create them.
But if this is your first time living someplace where sinkholes are a common enough disaster to be worried about, don’t fret.
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What is a sinkhole?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a sinkhole is any hole or depression in the ground that has no natural external surface drainage and is usually caused by some form of surface layer collapse. As a result, any sort of precipitation that falls collects in the depression and drains into the subsurface soil layer until finally meeting bedrock.
What causes a sinkhole?
Sinkholes generally form in what geologists refer to as karst terrain or any area where the bedrock is primarily composed of soluble, carbonate rocks like limestone, gypsum, and salt. As water drains into the soil, it slowly begins to dissolve the bedrock below, and over time, this can result in the formation of empty underground spaces and caves.
If the dirt and rock overtop these subterranean holes start to shift, or if drought dries out the soil and it becomes loose, the ground can suddenly collapse and fall into the empty hole or aquifer—in which case it becomes classified as a sinkhole.
Early sinkhole warning signs
If a sinkhole is beginning to form underneath your property, there are a few telltale warning signs that you can look out for inside and outside your home.
Inside your home
Look for the following sinkhole warning signs inside of your home to work out whether one may be forming underneath your house:
- Molding displacement
- Slanted floors/cracking of tile, vinyl, or concrete floors
- Cracks forming along walls, especially over doorways and windows
- Difficulty latching doors and windows that stick
- Cracks forming along interior joint areas
- Uneven drawers and cabinets
One of these alone shouldn’t be alarming—but if you start to notice multiple, in rapid succession, call a professional to look at your property and make a plan to stay somewhere else for a few days.
Outside your home
If you suspect a sinkhole may be imminent, look for these early warning signs outside of your home:
- Newly exposed fence posts, tree roots, foundations, etc.
- Water pooling around the foundation
- Depressions in your yard or the street in front of your home
- Cracking and separation of concrete or paved walkways
- Rainwater pooling in areas it never collected before
- Wilting vegetation in small circular clumps
Should you start to notice multiple or even just one of these early warning signs, contact a professional sinkhole repair company such as Helicon to have them inspect the premises and determine if a sinkhole is indeed forming.
MORE: Does my home insurance cover earthquake damage
How to protect your home against sinkholes
Fortunately, there are some things you can do to protect your home against sinkholes, such as:
- Hiring an inspector. If you plan on purchasing a plot of land to build your home on, hire a building inspector to inspect the premises first to determine if conditions exist that could potentially cause a sinkhole to form.
- Using less water. If you live in an area that experiences frequent droughts, using water sparingly can help prevent sinkholes from opening up as underground aquifers—from which your water is drawn—fill in the cracks and help keep rock and soil from moving.
Of course, there’s only so much you can do to prevent sinkholes from happening. After all, you can’t exactly bend nature to your will. If a sinkhole does open up, damaging your home or property in the process, you’ll want an insurance policy that includes sinkholes as a specific peril.
Generally speaking, the only way to obtain such a policy is to purchase either earth movement or sinkhole insurance. Your standard homeowners policy will never provide coverage for sinkholes, earthquakes, landslides, or other such earth movements.
How to save on home and auto insurance
Even though it won’t protect you from sinkhole damage, a good homeowners insurance policy is key to keeping your home and belongings safe from whatever else nature throws your way. But if this is your first time shopping for insurance, finding an affordable plan can seem impossible.
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FAQs
Where are sinkholes most common?
Generally speaking, you’ll find sinkholes wherever water can easily dissolve the bedrock—usually limestone—resulting in the collapse of overlying rock and soil. These conditions are most commonly found in the following states: Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.
How do sinkholes form?
Sinkholes may form in areas where rainwater cannot drain externally and soaks into the soil and down to the bedrock. If the bedrock is made of a soluble material like limestone, salt, or gypsum, it can start to dissolve over time and create open subterranean pits and caverns.
Once the soil over the top of these pits starts to shift, dries out, or becomes saturated again after a long period of drought, it can suddenly collapse into the hole, forming a sinkhole.
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