Bay Area Disaster Kleenup



Sinkholes are a part of Florida life. Bay Area Disaster Kleenup's network of experienced tradesmen and dedicated staff can provide quality structural repairs.

We have years of Sinkhole Repair Experience to efficiently repair even the toughest of projects. We can coordinate the project with engineers right through the remodeling phase. You can expect and get the best with Bay Area Disaster Kleenup. What is a Sink Hole? Exactly what is a sinkhole? What causes it? What defines sinkhole damage to a structure? These are all important and valid questions. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a sinkhole as a natural depression in a land surface communicating with a subterranean passage, generally occurring in limestone regions and formed by solution or a cavern roof. The word karst is a term that is associated with sinkholes. Karst landscape is formed from the dissolution carbonate bedrock. Karst terrain is characterized by the presence of sinkholes, springs and caves. It is typically drained internally where drainage moves rapidly into the ground through a network of fractures, pores, and voids in the bedrocks. Sinkholes occur naturally due to the dissolution of the soluble carbonate bedrock. The beginnings of sinkholes development or karstic erosion begins as slightly acidic groundwater flows through interconnected pores and fractures in the carbonate bedrock (limestone or dolostone). The groundwater becomes slightly acidic as the rainwater passes over decaying plant matter that gives off carbon dioxide. This carbonic acid attacks the carbonate rock and increases the size of the pores and fractures through which it flows. The more the size of the fractures and pores increases, more the rate of dissolution increases due to the increased volume of flow. Different types of sinkholes can form depending upon the depth at which the bedrock occurs, what the overburden soils consist of and how thick they are. Where there is very little or no soil covers the limestone bedrock, dissolution sinkholes can form. This is a very slow developing type of sinkhole and presents no hazards in the lifetime of a person. The dissolution of the limestone may take hundreds or thousands of years for a single foot. The ones that have formed are seen surficially as broad, saucer shaped land forms. The second type of sinkhole forms where there is a collapse sinkhole. These are the type of large catastrophic sinkhole that are occasionally seen in news headlines. These form when the roof over a large void or cavern in the bedrock collapse and the overlaying ground surfaces collapses to fill the void that has been created. These are rare and only a very small percentage of the sinkholes that develop in Florida are of this type. The Soils on the east side of the building will continue to consolidate and settlement of unsupported slabs will continue to occur as run-off water from the downspouts affects the relative density of the soils. Stabilization of this area east of the building would require removal of concrete pads, slabs, air conditioning units followed by re-grading of the east section of the property and compaction of the loose soils with downspouts redirected away from the building.

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