Manchester: A Hole or Sunken Spot Opened Up in My Yard

Why this happens in Manchester

Start with a leaking water service line washing out the trench. The most common cause on a sunken trench line. Around Colchester Drive and Colby the housing dates from 1940s beach homes, 1970s hill homes and newer waterfront rebuilds, which makes this the likeliest answer to sinkhole or sunken spot.

Then an old dry well, cesspool or septic component. Older properties have forgotten structures that eventually cave. We've seen it near Colby more than once, usually on copper running downhill from road meters.

Don't overlook a collapsed or separated drain line. Old clay tile or crushed corrugated pipe lets water wash soil into the pipe and away. On Manchester properties from 1940s beach homes, 1970s hill homes and newer waterfront rebuilds it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

Manchester's Beach Drive and Colchester Drive lots have the meter at the road and the house downhill at the water, so every leak drains toward the beach and surfaces far from the break.

First steps for sinkhole or sunken spot near Pomeroy Park: do the meter test. Note whether it appeared after rain or in dry weather. Keep everyone off it and mark it. Then call; the rest is a locate through fill and beach deposits on Colchester Drive, not guesswork.

What happens next

When it's the buried line, the fix in Manchester is underground water leak detection: we repair, if you want us to, confirm there is a leak through hardpan up Mile Hill at the marked spot on the village near the state park, and confirm and mark. Pipe and cable locator and the mini excavator ride on the first trip so it's finished the same visit.

Beach Drive, Pomeroy Park, Rich Passage: near any of them, sinkhole or sunken spot gets the same crew and the same equipment. Down Mile Hill Drive from Port Orchard, day or night, with the mini excavator on the trailer for Beach Drive lots sloping to the water.