Posted by mannyc on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 21:41:22 :
In Reply to: Re: Cutting into an old oil tank posted by David Sherman on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 19:35:34 :
in ny - you can have a tank legally abandoned provided that you use a qualified company. they empty the tank, clean the inside, and fill with foam. filling with sand or cement often causes the tank to press against your foundation. they charge about $1.00 per gallon of capacity. i think you can get it done cheaper if you to talk to the company and get them to do it on their schedule. you get a certificate of legal abandonment from the company. if you remove the tank and you do not do the appropriate soil testing - even if you do it yourself - you will have problems if the new owners ask if you ever had an oil tank. if you say yes (and the towns often know who has oil tanks) and that you did not do it to code, you are screwed as they will test and usually will come up with some bs. 500 or less upfront is worth the piece of mind. how much is your time, health (blow yourself up)and value of your house worth? btw if you go the legal removal route, they empty and remove the tank and dig up all around it. any dirt considered contaminated is treated as has mat. they make a huge $$$ deal about it. after they go nuts, they take the contaminated soil to the local asphalt and pave your streets with it.
mannyc