Kerosene Leak by Builder

C

Cybersue

Guest
Hi there

new to this so please bear with me. We got a builder to do a €85,000 revamp of our old cottage with money left to me by my late Mam. One of instructions was to knock down a wall which our home heating range stood and move that range to another side of the wall. In the process the connecting line to the Oil tank was damaged and 400lts of oil has soaked into the ground and into the foundations. The smell of kerosene in the house is very strong. We told the builder about this beginning of this month and having been told that it would evaporate and sink into the concrete, an alarm rang in my mind. He said he would fix the wall and that should be that. That was 4 weeks ago and he still hasnt done anything. I got a structural engineer and he said it is a massive environmental issue and we have not to drink the water nor put our heating on until this is fixed. We have our own well which is 20 ft away from this leak so we are right to be worried. I have sent a copy of the report to the builder but he wont answer his e-mail or phone. (he is quite well known). I dont knwo what to do as we just dont have the money to get specialised people in to test water and soil. Any advice of help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Sorry, just to add we owe him about €8500 and have paid on time. Our house is still not finished seems not to take this seriously. My intention is not to pay a penny for all the upset he has caused but I dont want to receive a solicitor's letter from him but I think i am in the right.
 
Have you contacted your house insurance? There is a way of treating the leak, but just leaving it won't do any good. It's years since I worked in an area that dealt with this, but it happened around petrol stations from time to time, and it is one of those situations where you move out of the house until the situation is resolved.
 
Thank you so much for this. I am trying to get as much advice as I can get so I can confront him as I know it's such a serious health issue. I have 3 little dogs to orry about as well.
 
I've tried them and they directed me to consumer affairs who haven't replied to my email yet. Thanks for this though.
 
Hmmm you have a problem and unfortunately a big and expensive one.... I've come across cases like that as I work in the insurance side of things. I would imagine if you were getting the house renovated and you told your insurance company that the cover would have been reduced to fire only cover. Even if you didn't do that and you have full cover they will send someone out to look at it. They wouldn't deal with it as the house was been renovated and you should have notified them etc etc.
I'm not a expert in this line of things but essentially you have probably two options to clean this up. The first option would be to dig out all the internal flooring and the ground beneath to remove the contaminated material.
The second would be a drilling holes into the ground and injecting specialist chemicals and mircrobes that will essentially eat the oil
Of the two the options the one I preferred to go with was the dig and dump... Expensive but it got the job done...
Your next problem is who's going to pay for it. I think you need to impress on the builder the problem you have. I get the impression that he knows this already and is burying his head in the sand hoping it would go away... See if he has any sort of insurance cover?!! I would guess not but it's worth a try... Then after all that your talking the legal route. All the best Cybersue....
 
I am afraid you have a very expensive problem on your hands. To deal with the problem correctly and legally you will need to get in specialists who deal with contaminated soil etc. The material cannot be just dumped anywhere. It will need to be taken away and dealt with by a specialist licensed firm. I doubt that your house insurance will cover same in the circumstances outlined. You may have to rely on your builders insurance and hope it covers this risk and that you can get him to accept responsibility for causing the leak. I do not think that the amount that you owe him will remotely sort out your problem. I am not sure if leaving it for a few years and hoping it evaporates within the house will work. Your well well will be unsafe to use. Sorry about your nightmare problem.
 
Thank you so much again for your advice, yes I think he is trying to ignore the problem and hopes it will go away. I cant believe he said something like this would evaporate. We have given him the week to look at the report and if he doesnt have a plan I think we will have to get nasty by firstly reporting him to the Construction Industry Federation (thank you Cashier) then get a legal letter. Its a total nightmare.
 
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