IE8 self closing tags automatically

IE8 self closing tags automatically

Ok I'm trying to debug my layout and see why it's all funky in IE8 and
below.. well when I start observing the code, I realize all the wrapping
elements of inner elements are self closing themselves.
<section id="top-bar"/>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="span12">
<p>ELEMENTS</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rivets"/>
</section/>
Well I have styling applied to the #top-bar in my CSS:
#top-bar {
background: #146c7e url('../images/top-bar-bg.png') repeat top left;
color: #fff;
}
So in IE8 and below that style is not being applied. This is absolutely
frustrating. This only happens to me in Magento.. All my other layouts I
did on my own never self closed themselves if content wasn't directly
inside of them.