Old oil tank out emergency

[Sarahmoluccan]

Because we are most likely selling our house we had to remove an old gas tank in our basement. They ended up have soldering it apart to be able to take it out. There was an inch or so of oil leftover. And the house reeks of oil. We got Echo out and I'm at a friend's house. And we'll be able to stay the night, with Echo in an dog crate. Thank goodness! They apparently put cat litter to soak the oil and it's out of the house. We have windows open to air it out. Not ideal in the winter but what are you going to do?

My question is when will it be safe to go back? We have a place for tonight but couch surfers with a cockatoo is not ideal. If the smell is gone then is it fine?
@JLcribber @Macawnutz Any ideas?

 

[Macawnutz]

Smell is the issue so once it's gone you should be fine.

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Smell is the issue so once it's gone you should be fine.

Great! Good to know. Its mostly a the back of house mom told me. Which is away from Echo's room. Hopefully it will just one night. And we'll be back tomorrow.

I should have plan better but things are moving fast with getting the house ready.

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Urg!! It still smells We're looking at hiring a company to help deal with it. I'm at a loss at what to do.... I should have expressed my concerns before this even happened. My family hates when I bring up how sensitive Echo is. I really hate this....

 

[owlsthetic]

Urg!! It still smells We're looking at hiring a company to help deal with it. I'm at a loss at what to do.... I should have expressed my concerns before this even happened. My family hates when I bring up how sensitive Echo is. I really hate this....

Oh no! My family is definitely annoyed by me too whenever I start worrying about the birds due to one reason or another but knowing how sensitive they are it's just impossible not to be worried sometimes

Is Echo still at your friend's?

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Yes me and Echo are still here. I think I should board him somewhere. My vet might do it but get his cage there is ridiculously hard. Then there's the rescue near Ottawa but it far from us. I dunno what to do. My mom is trying deal a company that cleaning up after fires and that kind of thing. Its expensive.... I dunno... I'm lucky that I have a place for now. It's not ideal and I've trying stop a migraine for happening. It's so difficult

 

[owlsthetic]

Yes me and Echo are still here. I think I should board him somewhere. My vet might do it but get his cage there is ridiculously hard. Then there's the rescue near Ottawa but it far from us. I dunno what to do. My mom is trying deal a company that cleaning up after fires and that kind of thing. Its expensive.... I dunno... I'm lucky that I have a place for now. It's not ideal and I've trying stop a migraine for happening. It's so difficult

I'm so sorry that this is happening. I can't imagine the stress. I think your vet and the rescue are good ideas. Does your vet offer any boarding cages at all?

 

[Toy]

I found this product in Canada:

Buy Petro Buster Now - Fuel Spill Remediation Product

Petro Buster makes Petroleum “Water Soluble” by breaking the tension between Petroleum and Water. This allows it to “emulsify” into water immediately. Imagine, dissolving Petroleum into Water!

petrobuster.ca

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Unfortunately not. We're getting a company in that put heavy duty air purifiers in the basement and main floor that will run for 48 hours. Hopefully that will solve the issue. I'm stressed and I have a headache that won't go away Thankfully I can stay here and the family is being great about it. Unfortunately they have tenant that smokes. Only outside but smell keeps making my headache worse.

 

[WillowQ]

Wow. I hope you can get this smell out. I don’t envy you; Petrochemicals give me such migraines.

 

[JLcribber]

I'm so sorry this is happening. It hits home very hard. I know this is not a cheap or easy fix

The key to this whole thing is airspace. If Echo has a room you can seal that space and introduce a source of fresh air.

More importantly is to constantly vent that basement area to the outside through a window down there with a fan pointed out. Sealing the door to the basement csn also help.

 

[WillowQ]

I’m wanting a high tech version of baking soda for you.
I’d be talking to my chemist friends about how to get rid of this smell. Jlcribber is correct, I think. But I wonder if there’s something to absorb the smell that you could leave around your house?

 

[WillowQ]

I started to search online and found suggestions of (of course) ventilation, but also placing various substances to absorb the smell.
Charcoal, Portland cement, coffee grounds, and baking soda were all recommended to absorb smell.
A Quora user wrote that if gasoline has been spilled, home improvement or hardware stores have special degreasers or enzymatic cleaners to remove the gasoline but also note that it soaks into concrete easily.
My thoughts are that clay cat litter was a great choice. I wonder about putting bowls or buckets of charcoal around?

 

[Teckechick]

Yes as John said put a fan in a window pointing out. Is there a window in the room in the basement? If not the closest room that doesn't pass by Echo's area would be good. This is what we did when painting and having our kitchen floors redone. The company had a venting system set up but being the paranoid bird mom we set up our own fan as well to have double the venting.

 

[Emma&pico]

So sorry you are going through this I hope you sort it

I am sure sawdust is a great way to soak up petrol or gasoline

 

[Shezbug]

Cat litter is what is used to soak up oil by the environmental clean up crews near the waterways and in most mechanical workshops as it works best, is easy to contain and clean away.


Do you still have oil in the house or has it all been moved outside?

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Still there I'm one my mom's place overnight. Tomorrow we going to Parrot Partner for boarding. Unsure for how long. We will have a company use bunch of powerful air filters or they call them air scrubbers. I'm not sure what the difference is. They sound like air filters to me. Maybe @JLcribber knows the difference? I'm emotionally and physically exhausted. One of the reasons I stepped down from being a mod a few years is I've been basically having a chronic mental crisis. My mom wants me to go the ER and see if they'll check into the psyche ward. I'm not sure if they'll allow phones in there. So I maybe offline for awhile

 

[Shezbug]

I’m really sorry to hear all this Sarah.
They use air scrubbers to remove the stench from things like unattended deaths where the person wasn’t found for some time so they clean the air very well and quite fast.
Psyche wards here don’t allow phones or visits for at least the first week- some get their phones back after that but some don’t do I think it must be case to case basis.
I hope you can sort the bad air out with minimal stress and you find some mental peace asap. Remember you have a lot of friends with available ears and time for you if you need someone to chat to xo

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

I’m really sorry to hear all this Sarah.
They use air scrubbers to remove the stench from things like unattended deaths where the person wasn’t found for some time so they clean the air very well and quite fast.
Psyche wards here don’t allow phones or visits for at least the first week- some get their phones back after that but some don’t do I think it must be case to case basis.
I hope you can sort the bad air out with minimal stress and you find some mental peace asap. Remember you have a lot of friends with available ears and time for you if you need someone to chat to xo

Thankyou! I really appreciate your kind words!

 

[WillowQ]

I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time and I hope you’re helped by whatever next step you take.
I’m sure extra stress doesn’t help. The house odor will eventually get resolved whether or not you are worrying about it. Maybe it will be better just to be out of the stress.
Take care of yourself.