<p>Oh, Lord, not a sinkhole. Many areas in Louisiana are built on coffee grounds, what we call reclaimed swamp land. As families moved out of the City of New Orleans to escape the crime, swamp land was filled in to build suburbs. Unfortunately, it was found that the land below the houses, which are built on piers, do “sink”. What results is holes under your house. If you don’t fill in regularly, your piers are exposed, eventually rot, and sometimes, your house actually leans from one side to the other. Some people have to get their houses shored, which costs as much as 60K. House is never the same afterward. Never could figure out why people would spend the money to do that, but reading the above discussions, I have a better understanding now. It’s like a major renovation of a house, just done on the outside. There is no insurance coverage for it. It’s a risk you take for living in this area of the suburb. </p>
<p>As for the above scenario of the sinkhole insurance payout, many people did this with their Katrina checks. Used the settlement to pay off the mortgage, but then had no money left to do home repairs. It has resulted in a lot of blight, which the city was suffering from greatly even before Katrina.</p>
<p>Oh, that tearing down idea is looking better and better.</p>
<p>Even so…the seller shouldn’t incur the tear down costs. To tear down a home and dispose of the rubble will cost a TON…If someone wants to buy your property for the LOT, then let THEM incur those costs.</p>
<p>Some one who owns a construction company and wants to build on your property can more easily incur those costs. Such an investor may want to buy a few homes on your street, tear them down and build anew. Let them incur the costs. </p>
<p>For the sidewalk…would a cheaper fix be to create a “ramp” on both sides to ramp up and down the differences…rather than replacing all sidewalks? I’ve seen businesses to this rather than tear out all the sidewalks.</p>
<p>And…are your sidewalks your own? Our sidewalks have always been city responsibility. if they’re your responsibility, what would keep a person from just getting rid of their sidewalk and planting grass there???</p>
<p>Oh, no, the sidewalks are our own. I would think there’s probably an ordinance that you have to have a sidewalk, as I don’t see any houses around that don’t have one. I’m not a civil engineer, but I think sidewalks probably do have a purpose, so getting rid of a sidewalk to not incur the cost of a sidewalk repair would probably not be cost effective considering the integrity of the front yard. We got rid of our concrete patio, then deck, in our back yard, and it has definitely affected the integrity of the backyard. I don’t want to make the same mistake in the front yard as well. Front yards do need to be protected, too, because of street flooding, which does incur in our area, though not as severe on our street as others. Most houses on our street do not take in water when there is a street flood, which makes our neighborhood a sought after street in our subdivision. Thanks for bringing that up, though, as it does put into perspective that some repairs, like tree cutting and sidewalk repair and mud fill, are necessary evils that one has to do to mitigate damages from likely catastrophes.</p>
<p>You might want to call the City of New Orleans and ask about the sidewalks.<br>
Also, in reference to the suburbs (Metairie, Kenner) built on coffee grounds; the truth is: they are actually built on crawfish and shrimp shells ;-)</p>
<p>^^^Ha, ha! So true. I live in Metairie.</p>
<p>I think you’re right about some areas of New Orleans. I work in the legal field, and I used to do a lot of cases for the New Orleans City Attorneys office. Quite a few of them were against the City for injuries incurred when tripping on the sidewalk. Those were usually in the commercial, not residential, district. </p>
<p>I am 100 percent sure that our sidewalk is our own financial responsibility. Everyone on our block has to regularly redo their sidewalk, and not one of those sidewalks has been paid for by the Parish. It’s come out of the homeowner’s pocketbook.</p>
<p>I’m getting estimates for tree trimming and limb removal in the next couple of days, in preparation for our new sidewalk and mud and sod. Will report back with that figure. I don’t expect it to be cheap, as I’ve been told to get a few estimates. If I have to compare prices, it can’t be cheap.</p>