Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind., Hotline column

July 29--When that sinking feeling gets too real

Q: Dear Hotline, I have what appears to be a sinkhole opening up on my property. What should I do? Would you know whom I could contact to take a look at it and give me an evaluation of any possible safety issues?

C.K., Monroe County

A: Hotline tries to avoid recommending one business or contractor over another when possible, but I can recommend some starting points for battling a potential sinkhole.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the prevalence of limestone and karst topography in the Monroe County area presents a risk of a different type of sinkhole than the house-eating holes that occasionally open up in Florida. A 2013 Herald-Times article by reporter Dawn Hewitt explains more:

"The limestone here is construction-grade. While it does dissolve -- as the abundance of local caves proves -- the process is very slow. While the ceiling of a cave can suddenly collapse and cause a sinkhole above it, in Indiana, there are no known cases of sinkholes suddenly opening up and sucking buildings into it."

Here's what you should do, now that I've dismissed the scarier possibilities:

--Document the area and stay away: Take photographs (time-stamped, if possible) of the area as soon as possible. This will be handy for legal documentation and insurance claims. Fence or mark the area off from kids and pets. Even a minor yard hole can cause serious injury.

--Speak with your insurance company and consult blueprints: Sinkholes can create other problems, affecting such things as gas lines or power lines that run by your house. If you live in a neighborhood, your homeowner's association will want to know ASAP, to help both you and your neighbors assess the situation. Insurance companies usually send out an adjuster, who will decide if a soil test is necessary to request work from a foundation company.

There's a reasonable chance that the imperfection in your lawn isn't a true "sinkhole" after all. Per www.sinkhole.org, it could be some shrink-swell clay that moved around based on precipitation, some buried debris from previous landscaping, a change in the groundwater level or some vegetation roots that got out of hand.

What the Dickens does kibosh mean?

Q: What does it mean to put a "kibosh" on something? I keep hearing my co-workers say it.

L.S., Bloomington

A: Merriam-Webster defines "kibosh" as a noun, and it's often used in a phrase meaning to stop or end something once and for all -- when you "put a kibosh" on it.

Its first written appearance was in Charles Dickens' "Sketches By Boz" (1836), spelled phonetically as "kye-bosk." Very little explanation exists as to how this saying came to pass, save for an 1860 newspaper article describing a "kybosh" as a heavy steel rod. Putting that sort of kybosh "on" someone would seem pretty effective as a deterrent.

Write to Hotline, c/o The Herald-Times, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402, or email [email protected], using "Hotline Inquiry" as the subject line. Include your name, city and phone number. We cannot answer all inquiries.

___

(c)2014 the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.)

Visit the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.) at www.heraldtimesonline.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services