Working on my 100 yr old house last weekend and pulled out some old unused galv water pipes and some abandoned gas lines. They came out whole, about 30-40 feet worth. To get them to fit in my van, I had to cut them up before taking them to the dump. I used my circ saw with a friction blade. All went well, but one of the pipes had this “tarry” smell when I was cutting it. I noticed there was still some liquid left in the pipe, and it was boiling near the hot cut-end. Well, when I finished up, I tipped the pipe and this FOUL SMELLING liquid poured out. It had an extremely pungent oily smell. I didn’t think the city ever had oil service lines into homes. This stuff was so pungent I had to dig up the back yard lawn and dirt whereever it had spilled, you could smell it 100 feet away.
I’m guessing it was old heating oil, that perhaps they had a tank in the back and a heater up front or something like that. Later on, they switched to gas and took out the storage tank but left the line under the house. Sound reasonable?
Boy, I got some of that stuff inside my van and I’ve scrubbed with nearly everything I can think of, and can still smell it. It seems to have penetrated the plastic floor-liner where it spilled. Any suggestions for neutralizing the odor besides replacing the floor-liner?
Replies
100year sediment? Usually contains a bit of bubonic plague...a touch of black death....they the same thing?.......sprinkle in a few odd carcinogens..old mill dust....carbon....sulfur..etc.
Tastes bad too. Jeff
.......Sometimes on the toll road of life.....a handful of change is good.......
Go to a pet supply store, or a feedlot store and buy a bottle of Skunkpet stain remover. It has enzimes that eat up the bactearia that cause horrible smells. There is at least 3 or 4 diferent brands of the stuff. If that does not work get a bag of aquarium charcoal and about 10 of those lemon juice cotainers and spray the juice on the spot and the charcoal and cover it with plastic. If that still does not work, get a bottle of old spice spray the whole car and sell it as quickly as possible
I wonder if the house every had gas lights. And the gas was generated localy or by the city make coal gas (or was it coke gas). I understand that they process generated a lot of tars.