Family fights insurance battle over a possible sinkhole in Maitland

It all started with a low humming noise, a sound that woke Maitland resident Jeff Nancarvis in the middle of the night. He thought it might have been an airplane passing overhead – a distant roar that would fade off into the distance and leave behind a heavy silence in its wake.

But the humming didn’t go away.

Nancarvis wandered throughout the house owned by his mother that evening in 2009, searching every corner and every room for the source of the sound that started around 4 a.m. He’d recently moved in to take care of his mother, Pauline France.

He had no idea that what would start as a sound would lead to a frightening discovery, and a sinking feeling for the next six years, triggering a legal battle to save their house — or to escape it.

The house at 180 White Oak Circle resembles that of any in Central Florida. Neighbors drive past, step outside to collect their mail and walk their dogs around the block, not thinking twice that there’s anything threatening their homes – or their lives.

But at least 30 feet beneath the cream-colored home sporting an American flag lies a ticking time bomb: a sinkhole that is slowly swallowing the house.

“I sleep with one eye open, because I have to worry when I hear a crack,” Nancarvis said.

Nancarvis learned that the sound was coming from the neighbor’s high-powered well next door, tapping into the aquifer below and pumping out water for irrigation.

It was only a noise complaint back in 2009 – the pump would fire up late into the night throughout the week, frequently waking up Nancarvis and France. But today the humming is something far worse: a nagging reminder that their feet aren’t planted on solid ground.

The loudest room in the house changes from month to month, giving Nancarvis the impression that the house is tilting ever-so-slightly.

But the deep impact well could have played a role in triggering the sinkhole to begin with, said Sandy Nettles, president and owner of geotechnical investigation firm N.S. Nettles and Associates Inc.

In April 2014, N.S. Nettles and Associates Inc. was hired by Nancarvis to conduct a sinkhole investigation, drilling three holes deep into the ground. Cracks had already begun to form outside the home back in 2010, starting beside the garage at the right side of the home and slowly wrapping their way around the house over time.

Nettles said their investigation clearly identified the activity below as a cover subsidence sinkhole, one that brings a structure down into the ground like a slow quicksand. Sinkholes of that nature are usually triggered by man-made causes, like deep welling.

Nettles added that there could still be a chance of a sudden collapse if there’s any bridging of clay sediment. France and Nancarvis had already felt the heavy boom of small collapse that titled several picture frames in the house.

“We don’t know what all is down there,” Nettles said.

France had purchased the Maitland home back in 2005, the same year she retired after a 50-year career in the U.S. Navy. The quaint hideaway was supposed to be the place she would spend her golden years, tending to her garden and relaxing beside her pool.

Now the sinkhole slowly cracks not only the house’s frame, but the peace of mind of the residents inside. Nancarvis and France are left with an excruciating sense of paranoia.

“I pray a lot,” France said.

But Nancarvis and France have now embarked on a legal battle. The mother and son claimed through St. John’s Insurance Company that the home had a sinkhole back in 2010 when the cracks started, resulting in the company sending Rimkus Consulting Group Inc. to conduct a sinkhole investigation. Their analysis reportedly showed no sinkhole activity.

With findings now emerging that the sinkhole exists, Nancarvis fears the sinkhole has gotten even worse.

“If you run your car and you’re low on oil, it’ll hold up for so many miles,” Nancarvis said. “But if you push it those additional 20,000 because you don’t have the dollars or you’re too cheap to do it, you’re going to end up rebuilding the whole engine.”

“The sound has gone from just a couple locations to spreading everywhere.”

Nancarvis said that St. John’s Insurance has since offered Nancarvis and France $187,000 to walk away, but that might not be good enough to repair damages caused by the sinkhole – especially if it collapses.

France said the policy with St. John’s Insurance was for $350,000 and that they hope to acquire the entire sum. The mother and son ultimately hope to repair the sinkhole and move away.

France and Nancarvis await their court date with St. John’s Insurance in August. Meanwhile, the ticking timer beneath the home continues.

“It literally has been hell,” Nancarvis said.