Sinkhole appeared in my yard near the house
Drainage issues like underground downspout lines, newly installed drain tile, or shifting water flow frequently trigger sinkholes close to the foundation. Homeowners struggle to pinpoint whether the damage stems from broken subsurface pipes or underlying geological conditions, preventing them from filling the hole safely without risking structural damage.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1pouring a bunch of gravel and dirt in there
- 2just fill with sand
- 3dig out around the area some to investigate
- 4send a camera down your downspout
- 5order 10 yards of concrete and fill it
- 6plant fast heavily rooting flora
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“It’s rough 3 or 4 feet from my house. That’s my shovel in there. There’s a few smaller holes in the same area but the ground doesn’t appear to be a soft under those?”source ↗
“This hole formed after I had someone install sch 40 from my down spout and install a new drain tile.”source ↗
“I suspect it might be the downspout roughly 5 or 6 feet from the hole. It goes into the grown and out towards the front of the house but I’m not sure.”source ↗
“I’m in Kentucky. Maybe 5 or so feet from the downspout which goes into the ground and out toward the front of the house.”source ↗