The Flossmoor Public Library has had a big section of the first floor closed off for the last year because of a sinkhole.

Village crews are working to find the cause and the best way to fix it. 

After examining the situation, the village has found a void of 11.5 inches between the foundation and flooring which is attributed to the building settling. 

Public Works Director John Brunke, said there is no specific pricing for repairs yet, but the village hopes to move forward with repairs in the fall. 

The crew has yet to determine where the stone settled and where it is now.

Brunke said the library’s foundation is secure; it is called a floating slab, with stone poured into the foundation, but not directly connected to it where the gap was found. 

“The stone has been washed out or settled drastically under the slab, and the slab is floating over a [gap],” Brunke said. “The question becomes, where did the stone go? This is not normal settlement for a slab.”

Brunke said the village initially was notified by the library’s maintenance staff after they noticed the floor sagging. After tracking the situation for the last year, they determined it had not gotten any worse and moved on with closer examination to find the problem. 

Looking back at the plan for the library building, which opened in December 2004, Brunke said it initially was thought it possibly could be that the stone had settled into an old storm sewer pipe but quickly found it was no longer there. 

The crew also determined this problem was evident before its current discovery. A previous patch was filling cracks in the slab with caulk when the library was recarpeted, Brunke said. 

After the village spoke with a structural engineer, Brunke said they determined the best way to fix the drop would be to have a contractor remove the carpeting, dig holes in the floor and fill the void with lightweight concrete. Then they will patch the floor, level the floor and put the carpet back down.