East Port Orchard: A Hole or Sunken Spot Opened Up in My Yard

Why this happens in East Port Orchard

A collapsed or separated drain line: old clay tile or crushed corrugated pipe lets water wash soil into the pipe and away. In East Port Orchard that usually means galvanized on Annapolis waterfront homes near Annapolis, and the ground, hardpan on the Mile Hill plateau, decides how far the water travels before you see it.

The second thing we rule in or out is poorly compacted backfill from an earlier dig. A trench that was dumped full and never compacted settles for years. It's common enough on 1980s subdivision lots off Mile Hill that we never skip it.

Don't overlook an old dry well, cesspool or septic component. Older properties have forgotten structures that eventually cave. On East Port Orchard properties from the 1970s and 80s South Kitsap build-out it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

East Port Orchard is West Sound Utility District country, with 1970s and 80s copper and poly lines on hardpan that surface a leak eventually but downhill.

What you can check yourself on mid-size lots along Bethel Avenue: keep everyone off it and mark it. Don't fill it until the cause is known. If you get that far, we'll pick it up from there with leak noise correlator and pipe and cable locator.

What happens next

In East Port Orchard the work that follows the diagnosis is underground water leak detection, and it runs in order: trace the line, repair, if you want us to, listen. Early poly on Jackson Avenue lots in clay seams near Retsil sets the pace on older lots down toward Retsil; the sequence doesn't change.

Our East Port Orchard coverage for sinkhole or sunken spot runs Retsil, Mile Hill Drive, Village Greens, Bethel Avenue and everything between. We're based in Central Kitsap, about twenty minutes across the inlet, with leak noise correlator and pumps on the truck.