VIDEO: Concerns Grow Over Large Crack Along Lake Whitney Cliff

nbcdfw.com ^ | 03/17/15 | nbcdfw.com

[SWAMPSNIPER]

A giant fracture in a limestone cliff overlooking Lake Whitney is threatening another luxury home, less than a year after a mansion was burned to the ground before it could collapse and fall into the North Texas lake below.

[Zeneta]

Thanks. Do pools in Texas need to be drained periodically? And how do they do that? I’m guessing they don’t just dump it over the edge?

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The only reason to completely drain a pool no matter where in the country, would be to resurface the plaster.

Just so you know, it’s not the concrete that holds the water, it’s the plaster.

It’s a really bad idea to leave a pool empty for a long period of time.

And yes, we would just pump the water out, downhill.

The thing that really surprised me and what many people don’t realize is the sheer volume. A typical 20 X 40 X 9 foot pool requires ~22 double axle trucks just to haul away the dirt. It’s insane.

Hit rock?

We called in another machine that was designed to bust it up.

Fill was nasty.

We had to dig down until we hit “virgin ground”, and then fill the hole with truck loads of gravel to create a base that would pass inspection. Insane.

Water is the worst.

My pool from hell was built on an underground stream that was about 8 feet below the surface.

As we where digging the thing we hit water and the hole filled up with water so fast that we could barely get the machine out in time.

For the homeowner, the project went from $50,000 to an unknown number that ended up well over $100,000.

We got it done but they can never ever leave that pool without water since it will pop out of the ground.

[Zeneta]

Do you own a pool in Texas?

I get the impression that you do.

[21twelve]

Nope - just wondering if they had dumped water over the side. I've investigated sinkholes in my business, and most of the time it is due to a change in surface water flow. Adding a driveway, leaking pipes, even a missing downspout can cause problems.

While this is not a sinkhole, the mechanism is the same - dissolving weaker zones in the limestone. A fracture in this case.

[MaxMax]

Honey, guess where we’re building the new In-law house...

[Zeneta]

At the end of the day water rules.

[WayneS]

Yes. My original comment was a joke.

I am, indeed, a professional engineer, and of course I realize that it does not take an "expert" to recognize there is a problem on the property shown in the photo.