GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

17-03-2003, 01:20 PM

(GeorgeR) wrote:

I purchased a new construction home that was built in 1999. Last
summer I had a dump truck full of mulch burry itself to it's axles in
my front yard. I thought it might have been from the water line to the
street and that the dirt was just soft in that area. Now that the snow
has melted my back yard (cleared one-acre lot) is riddled with so many
sink holes that I am afraid to let my 2 year old daughter walk in the
yard. I talked to my neighbor and he said that instead of hauling the
trees off the lot they were burried, leaves and all, in 3 or 4 large
20 foot deep holes.

IMMEDIATELY call your local government (city or county) and call
the state's registrar of contractors. This is illegal in most
states, because of the sinkhole problem it creates. But you might
have a time limit on complaints, so leap to it.

And call the builder and tell them that you expect them to fix
the holes. If he balks, call a local TV station's consumer
affairs reporter and let them know that the contractor has
refused to do anything about holes that are "large enough to
swallow a child". Public humiliation can work wonders.

Some of these sink holes that recently appeared
are 4 feet deep! I can see large indentations in the soil around the
sink holes about 12 feet by 15 feet. What can I do?

Someone - preferably the contractor - has to dig out the buried
trees and fill the holes with real dirt.

Tsu

--
To doubt everything or to believe everything
are two equally convenient solutions; both
dispense with the necessity of reflection.
- Jules Henri Poincaré