Oil leak under house - advise please/ people who have been in similar situations!

[Rose5432]

Our neighbours have had a boiler leak and oil has spread under our house. We are looking at time out of our house whilst the insurance company get it all dug out and fixed. It’s a stressful situation and I’m wondering if anyone can give me advice or reassurance who has been in a similar situation on how long the remediation took/ what the process was once work started? Thank you in advance.

We've not had a leak under the house but had one under our drive many years back. We realised what was happening when the kerosene made the tarmac go soft and squishy. Fixed fairly quickly and I don't recall any long lasting consequences - for instance the damage to the drive didn't reoccur or spread far, the garden plants didn't die, the kerosene evaporated and left no smell... However our soil is heavy clay so maybe the oil couldn't percolate far.

I suppose the consequence of oil under the house depends on the house's age and the quantity of oil involved. I'd think with an old house with slate damp proof course and wooden suspended floors you'd just need to move out for a little while until the smell and danger of fire had dissipated.

However a modern house with possible damp proof membrane under a solid floor involving plastics which might be dissolved by the oil is a much bigger problem. Perhaps it would damage modern damp proofing in the walls too. I'd think the floors might have to be dug out down to soil level and redone? I personally wouldn't be happy with an offer of re-proofing under existing floors with some sort of injection - you wouldn't know if the whole area had been covered or whether lingering oil was redamaging it.

Sorry, I'm just speculating here! Hopefully someone will come along to give you more well informed advice.

Oh gosh - this happened to someone I know and they were out of their house for over a year. I think it got into the foundations and it was essentially a rebuilding job. All covered by insurance.