We were contacted by a homeowner that received an anonymous letter in the mail. They had purchased a home five years ago from a homeowner that had lived in the home for 30 years.
The previous homeowner had built a Great Room addition on to the house, right over an underground heating oil tank. Upon receipt of the anonymous letter, the current homeowner checked behind heavy shrubbery outside the Great Room and found a hidden fill port and vent pipe for that oil tank.
They called us to see what could be done about it. The first thing we did was have a tank sweep done which confirmed the existence of the tank below the beautiful hardwood flooring.
Underground Oil Tank under Great Room wood floor
Once it was determined there definitely was a tank, we applied for permits and started the job. A framing contractor came in before us and carefully removed the hardwood flooring to be reused in the area we needed to dig and also took up the subfloor and 2×4 sleepers.
We came in and carefully tarped off the area from the rest of the house with plastic sheeting and put a thin plywood on the floor to protect it as we moved in and out of the home and to place the soil aside on as we were digging down to the tank.
We hand dug and reached the top of the tank to discover there were still several inches of fuel left inside. It was pumped into a 55 gallon drum, then the tank was cut open, cleaned out and removed.
There were unfortunately holes in the tank and signs of leaking at the bottom of the excavation so it did fail inspection and a DEP case needed to be called in.
After digging out a single truckload of contaminated soil the soil samples from the bottom of the hole came back clean and we were able to backfill the excavation and restore the concrete slab. We advised the homeowner to wait a few weeks before reinstalling the hardwood floor as the concrete emits moisture as it cures and the hardwood could warp.
This was an unusual case and extremely unethical by the previous homeowner. Luckily someone that knew what had been done did the right thing to let this homeowner know by sending that letter.
When you have a tank you know of or one that you unexpectedly find out about, you need the right professional with the experience, expertise and knowledge to help you out the best possible.
We’ve been removing underground storage tanks for 25 years and have the knowledge, experience and expertise to get the job done correctly even when the difficulty level is high. We specialize in Oil Tank Removal in NJ, PA, DE & CT
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