PROJECT:

2008 - Dry Cleaners PCE Remediation With Helical Piles And SVE Technology

SITE:

New Providence, Union County, NJ, ANCO Project #15225-RW

CLIENT:

Real Estate Holding Company

OVERSIGHT CONSULTANT:

Environmental Liability Management (ELMI), 609-683-4848

PROJECT VALUE:

$289,000

DETAILS:

PCE had diffused deeply through poorly graded, water saturated unstable (95% silty) soils beneath this dry cleaning facility at a strip mall.  The foundation was supported on two sides with Chance helical pull down piles set by ANCO.  Four helicals were set on the inside of the building due to a 4” gas main routed along the exterior wall.  Helicals were set immediately following digging a narrow section utilizing a small excavator with a quick connect coupling.  This enabled simply and efficiently switching from excavator bucket to helical torque driver.  Contaminated soil was excavated to a depth of 10’ below grade; 4’ deeper than the water table.  Twice daily excavation dewatering coupled with soil digout and material staging was a logistic challenge while this busy mall remained open for business during the entire process.  Vapor extraction piping was installed through horizontal boreholes set through the excavation sidewalls beneath adjoining businesses.  SVE gasses were pumped through activated carbon drums through plumbing configured by ANCO.

PROJECT:

2008 - Overpressurized Tank Rupture In Basement

SITE:

High Bridge, Hunterdon County, NJ, ANCO Project #15475-RW

CLIENT:

Homeowner, Travelers Insurance and Petro

PROJECT VALUE:

$44,000

DETAILS:

Oil had streamed from a burst seam on the characteristically deformed (due to excessive internal pressure) 275-gallon oil tank.  Even though the homeowner was in the house during the delivery, the tank lost 40+ gallons which quickly flooded the finished basement carpeting, then flowed beneath the concrete slab through unprotected French drains.  ANCO first cut, then jackhammered and removed the concrete floor.  Impacted soils were moved by conveyor through an opening cut into the block foundation.  The homeowner stayed with family members as inside air was unbearably contaminated.  Utilizing carbon air scrubbers together with an ozone generator and “unsmoke” foggers, ANCO purified the air within the first floor living area.  A negative air containment system was installed for controlling and redirecting basement air.  The air ducts were ozoned and sanitized and every carpeted and fabric surface in the house was steam cleaned.  Sub slab clay based soils greatly help limit the spread of the oil. The entire project was competed within two weeks with acceptable final air clearance tests, following two weeks later. 

PROJECT:

2008 - Degraded #2 Fuel Spill Cleanup In Basement

SITE:

Watchung, Somerset County, NJ, ANCO Project #14692 RW

CLIENT:

Chubb Insurance

OVERSIGHT CONSULTANT

None

PROJECT VALUE:

$275,000

DETAILS:

This 275-gallon tank had burst and was replaced 10 years prior to the call for help.  Discovery and reporting to the NJDEP was delayed due to evidence cover-up.  The homeowner at the time had simply poured a concrete pad over the spill.  When the new owner sought to finish his basement, the old spill was discovered.  By then, the oil had seeped 8’ beneath the floor and diffused beneath most of the basement.  A conveying system was installed through the outside block wall to carry hand dug soils from beneath the house to waiting trucks.  Poured sectional concrete piers were utilized as the most cost effective foundation support method for interior load bearing walls.  The excavation was backfilled with ¾” gravel, and then several hundred feet of 3” diameter perforated piping was installed. A 1,000 CFM sub slab air pump was installed and the output was directed through dual 55-gallon activated carbon drums.  This system will remain operational until airborne volatile organic compound levels fall below applicable NJDEP screening levels.  Final air clearance tests on the first and second floors are within compliance limits.  ANCO restored the basement floor slab, cleaned air ducts with ozone and “unsmoke” foggers and wiped every surface clean of petroleum residue. 

PROJECT:

2007 - Luxury Residence Basement Oil Line Rupture  With Sub Slab Impact

SITE:

Boonton Township, Morris County, NJ, ANCO Project #13914-RW

CLIENT:

Utica Insurance

OVERSIGHT CONSULTANT:

ENSR, 978-589-3012

PROJECT VALUE:

$188,000

DETAILS:

Brought in directly by the fuel oil dealer, ANCO responded to an oil line rupture where about 60 gallons leaked onto the utility room floor, then flowed beneath the ‘floating’ concrete floor slab.  The water table was only 8” beneath the slab, therefore the oil was quickly carried beneath half the basement floor area through the sub slab gravel.  ANCO opened a series of pits and recovery troughs, then, by injecting steam with surfactants, the oil was sparged from the gravel.  Two groundwater circulation systems were then installed, where water from the interceptor trenches was pumped through activated carbon then re-injected into holes drilled through the up gradient side of the basement floor.  Oil metabolizing microbes were added prior to backfilling.  The home had been outfitted with a radon remediation system, which was utilized and modified to polish remaining sub slab soil gas.  The air pump output was directed through 55-gallon drums of carbon before discharging to the atmosphere.  Groundwater quality and final indoor air clearance tests returned below limits within six months of the spill resulting in a recent NFA letter by the NJDEP.

PROJECT:

2006 - Sub Slab Oil Line Leak After Misdiagnosis Of Faulty Underground Oil Tank

SITE:

Carteret, Middlesex County, NJ, ANCO Project #13529-RW

CLIENT:

Preferred Mutual Insurance and Harleysville Insurance Company

OVERSIGHT CONSULTANT

Aegis Engineering, Rockland, Mass 781-982-4008

PROJECT VALUE:

$162,000

DETAILS:

Following the hook up of a new basement oil tank to the “wrong set” of oil lines, the homeowner reported loosing 200 gallons of oil overnight.  The house became uninhabitable during the cleanup, which involved tunneling beneath the basement floor through an excavation made in the front yard.  Conveyors were utilized to lift contaminated soil directly into waiting trucks.  Alternating 4’ foundation sections were dug out, sampled, then repoured with concrete.  New footings, floor slab, foundation and heating system completed the site restoration, all by ANCO crews.  Groundwater was found to be affected which triggered homeowner liability coverage.  The tank installer’s insurance carrier shouldered a portion of the cost, and the remainder was submitted to the NJDEP leaking tank fund, for as it turned out, the underground tank was the cause of the no heat problem in the first place.  ANCO funded the $168,000 project which took two years of expert investigation, forensic analysis and reports to understand before the battling insurance companies could agree on contribution portionality.

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