Picture 1. Oil heating room encapsulated with bio-based coating.

In a Helsinki housing association’s old oil heating room, oil absorbed into structures caused persistent odor nuisance and contaminated the soil. TKR’s bio-based coating solution proved to be an effective method for eliminating the problems and converting the space into a modern heat distribution room.

Oil-Saturated Surfaces as the Coating Project Challenge

Bart Jansen from Planera Oy, who was responsible for project supervision and planning, describes the initial situation as exceptionally challenging. The housing association’s basement space had previously contained an oil tank, which had leaked substantial amounts of oil onto the floor and through the concrete into the soil, contaminating it over the years.

“The room’s walls and floor were capillary-saturated with old oil, which created challenges for encapsulation planning and implementation. We had to consider how well the coating would adhere to the oily surface and how permanent the solution would be,” Jansen explains.

However, the biggest immediate problem was the strong odor that also traveled to the upper floor apartment, causing significant nuisance to the building’s residents. Even grinding the surfaces hadn’t helped, as the oil had absorbed and the odor had penetrated the surfaces so thoroughly.

“We had observed TKR to be a good product from our previous coating projects, including microbial damage sites. Therefore, we thought the coating would also suit this application.”

Picture 2. Flaking surfaces had absorbed substantial amounts of oil.

Disturbance-Free Implementation for Residents as Part of Larger Renovation Project

The housing association wanted to convert the old oil tank room into a new heat distribution room, but this required complete elimination of oil problems.

“The renovation was a multi-year project, as the oil tank room had to become a new heat distribution room for ground source heat equipment. Among other things, soil replacement and complete renovation were done to the contaminated ground,” Jansen explains.

Once properly started, the actual project was a process of several months, with the coating portion taking less than a week.

Before the actual coating work, the space was heated and depressurized for two weeks to evaporate oil from the surface as effectively as possible. Additionally, thorough test area testing was conducted. Three oily test areas were coated with colorless coating, and the result proved excellent.

It was particularly important that the upper floor residents experienced no disturbance from the coating work. The project avoided heavy demolition work and noise, which would have been inevitable with more traditional repair methods.

Inspection Visit Has Proven the Coating Solution Correct

If the project had resorted to chipping, demolishing, and rebuilding, the price tag would likely have been multiple times higher – if the work would have been technically possible at all in the challenging basement conditions.

With moderate costs, the end result achieved:

• Sealed surfaces in the oil room
• Waterproof surface for the adjacent room floor
• Creosote encapsulation
• Cracks leading to the upper floor sealed tight

Picture 3. Sealed, odorless, and durable surfaces keep harmful substances out of indoor air.

About a year has now passed since the project’s completion, and an inspection visit confirmed that the coating remains intact and sealed, with no oil odor detectable – a significant improvement from the previous situation where the oil stench extended even to the yard.

The housing association has been so satisfied with the result that they ordered sealing of adjacent garage cracks with bio-based coating.

“As a final surface, TKR is pleasant, pleasant for installers to apply, and achieves a sealed end result, so oil compounds or other harmful substances no longer release into room air. Even space users can hardly believe that the building no longer smells. Indoor air quality has also clearly improved according to feedback,” Jansen says about TKR’s advantages.