ᐅ Making a Former Boiler Room Usable?

Hello,
we are currently renovating a house from the 1960s.
Until now, it was heated with oil, so there is a room in the basement where the oil tank and related equipment were installed until recently. All of this has now been removed, as we are switching to a heat pump system.
Now we are wondering if we can use the former oil tank room without restrictions as a basement room and for storing canned goods, for example, or if this might not be a good idea due to possible gases or residues in the walls, etc. Has anyone had experience with this? Or any tips on what we could do to make the room “safe” to use?
Thanks in advance and have a nice evening to all readers :-)

The oil was stored in tanks after all – so I would say the room can still be used 🙂

Regards, Yvonne

Thanks for the reply :-)

However, the room always smelled strongly of oil, and even now the smell hasn’t completely gone away. I just don’t know if it will fully dissipate over time or not.

Well, since when has the oil not been stored in the tanks?

I can definitely imagine that the vapor will evaporate over time... The question is just when?!

The tanks with their contents have only been outside for 10 days – the question is whether you can rely on your sense of smell regarding indoor air quality? Or are there measuring devices available for this?

Keyword VOC (volatile organic compounds). A building biologist should be able to measure this. You might also find something under environmental (environmental measurement technology) in the Yellow Pages.