How do sinkholes form in your parking lot?
Sinkholes are a common problem in Florida, making it crucial to pay attention to them if you own an asphalt paving. When this information is likely to make you ask yourself how a sinkhole is formed, you also need to understand what it is.
A sinkhole is a natural depression on the ground that occurs when acidic water dissolves the subterranean rock. Once the subterranean rock dissolves, the support of the underlying earth becomes weak and can result in a monstrous burrow that swallows part of your property, including your parking lot. Sometimes, the sinkhole is insignificant in size but has the ability to cause the same amount of havoc if you fail to notice and repair it in time.
How is a Sinkhole Formed?
The type of rocks in an area plays a major role in the formation of sinkholes. In Florida, sinkholes are a major surreal danger since the state’s peninsula is made of porous carbon rocks. These rocks store water and facilitate the movement of underground water. As the water combines with oxygen, it makes acid that dissolves the rocks with time. Once the rock dissolves, it creates a void underneath the limestone which gives way if the clay, sand, or dirt gets too heavy for the limestone roof to bear.
Telltale Signs of Sinkholes
When looking at how is a sinkhole formed, it’s necessary to look at different factors that lead to the formation of this dangerous occurrence. In some instances, sinkholes form naturally but in other cases, they’re triggered by:
- A long period of drought followed by heavy rainfall
- Human activities such as heavy pumping of underground water, landfill creation, excavating, well drilling, and broken underground water pipes
- Tropical storms
Understanding the signs of sinkhole formation in your property helps in determining the best cause of action when doing parking lot repairs. Some signs that there’s a likelihood of a sinkhole formation in your property include:
- A depression in your parking lot
- A new sunken area in your asphalt paving
- Small ponds of water collecting in areas they’ve never formed before
- A slumping parking lot
- An open cavity on the pavement
How to Repair a Sinkhole
Unlike a pothole, repairing a sinkhole in your parking lot requires more than patching up the asphalt around the affected area or filling up the affected area. To ensure that the problem doesn’t happen again, you need to get to the root cause of the problem.
If you have a sinkhole problem in your property, the parking lot maintenance contractor starts by analyzing the intensity of the problem. The parking lot repair team maps out the utility lines and proceeds with excavation. The excavator operator digs until the solid ground or reaches the depth prescribed by the engineer.
The type of repair depends on how the sinkhole was formed, its characteristics, and the engineer’s recommendations. In most cases, the sinkhole repair process involves:
- Filling the hole with clean fill
- If the sinkhole was near a catch basin, the contractor reroutes the water drainage to provide a permanent solution.
Parking lot repairs may take anything from a few days to several months depending on the severity and the size of the sinkhole.
Is It Possible to Prevent Sinkholes?
Now that you have the answer to the question of how a sinkhole is formed, it’s time to learn whether it’s possible to prevent it from affecting your property. Sinkholes in your asphalt parking lot pose serious parking lot accidents to anyone accessing your asphalt paving.
The good news is that you can minimize sinkhole formation by doing regular preventative maintenance on your parking lot.
Looking for Preventative Maintenance?
At Parking Lot Services in Tampa, we help you understand how is a sinkhole is formed and also offer you the right preventative measures. We also strive to offer you a variety of parking lot repair services among them:
Contact us today if in need of asphalt repair Tampa, ADA compliance services or want to ensure that your parking lot meets ADA compliance requirements.