A home that was partially swallowed by a large sinkhole in Falmouth, N.S., has been torn down four months after it was condemned.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 3, 2017, Heather Strickey awoke to noises downstairs. She initially thought her home was being invaded, but when police arrived they informed the family that the house was sinking into the ground.

"We thought this was the house that we would watch our kids graduate from high school, get married, all those landmark moments … but obviously that's not going to happen," Strickey says.

It's still not clear whether insurance will cover the accident.

"With any insurance coverage, I guess there's always exceptions, so they're looking at what could be an exception to covering house collapse and that's really where the points are in discussion at this moment," Strickey says.

Their former neighbours are also left asking questions.

"Whether it's a sinkhole or if it was manmade erosion, we don't know. So until we find that out, we're still where we were back in September," says neighbour Gus Murray.

Murray says a geotech company has since surveyed the area and told him there was no reason for concern.

"They did my property and the properties around here, asked the guy what he found and he said everything's fine. It's just isolated to that one property," says Murray.

Bob Ryan has been a geologist for 40 years and says while the home was in a high-risk area for sinkholes due to gypsum deposits, this is the first he's ever heard of a house in Nova Scotia being damaged by a sinkhole

"If we look at the amount of area in the province that's covered by gypsum, and how few, if only one, incident that we know of where a house has been damaged by it, then the likelihood isn't very high," says Ryan

The Strickey family is now searching for stability.

"We have daughters in Grade 8 and 11. Next year will be our oldest daughter's Grade 12 year. We'd love to have a home to celebrate those big moments," says Strickey.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Allan April.