Paint thinner in the ground

Cliff_Johns · Sep 11, 2004

The guy I hired to stain my house cleaned his brushes behind my garage where, at some point, I plan to put in a small garden. I guess he chose that spot because my wife couldn't see him doing it. In any case, the question is, will paint thinner completely disipate over time? Will there be a hazardous residue which I should clean up some how?

Cliff

daedong · Sep 11, 2004

Cliff,
I would think that a once of occurrence like this would have no consequence.

sneaky_pete · Sep 11, 2004

It will dissipate over time; how fast depends on what kind of soil you have and how much it rains. Sandy soil drains much faster than soil with a lot of clay in it. I'm a geologist not a soil scientist, but he would have to have used a lot of thinner to really hurt anything.

Find out what kind of paint he was using. If it was a Latex-based paint, they clean up with water. If he was using Turpentine or some other petroleum solvent paint thinner, I'd be more worried about it eventually getting in my water well than the garden, but again it would have to be a significant amount - not just a half-pint to clean brushes. Even a small amount of petroleum solvents will kill grass and weeds, just like diesel or gasoline. But it doesn't last, it washes away.

Pete

Cliff_Johns · Sep 11, 2004

( It will dissipate over time; how fast depends on what kind of soil you have and how much it rains. [)

I was hoping that being a volatile liquid that it would disapate rather than leach.

( Find out what kind of paint he was using. If it was a Latex-based paint, they clean up with water. )

Oil based primer and metal paint around the basement windows was the problem.

Thanks,
Cliff

Junkman · Sep 11, 2004

I am of the belief that it is better to dig it out now and dispose of it in the trash, than to let it lie to become a potential problem at some time in the future. If it hasn't rained since he cleaned the brushes, it can't be much more than a small area about 6 inches deep. Why have to be thinking about something when you have the ability to alleviate it now?

Cliff_Johns · Sep 13, 2004

As you suggested, Junkman, I went ahead and dug it up. Two weeks after they washed their brushes (no rain) and the ground still had a very strong oder.

Cliff

Currmudgeon · Sep 14, 2004

Back bill him for your labor. When he doesn't pay, complain to the BBB. You may be able to take him to small claims court.

rcmike · Sep 14, 2004

How much did he dump? If you could smell it after 2 weeks it must have been a lot. Most stuff like that evaporates. I have accidentally left a top off of some paint thinner and it was gone in a couple of days. It depends on what they used though.

Cliff_Johns · Sep 14, 2004

( How much did he dump? If you could smell it after 2 weeks it must have been a lot. Most stuff like that evaporates. )

That's what I thought too. The spots weren't very big, and I didn;t have to dig but a few inches to get it all -- clay there.

Anyway, It's not that big a deal, but I feel like they should have asked about where to dump out the can they cleaned their brushes in rather than just dumping at the corner of the garage. I admit there is no grass there, but that's because I just built the garage!

Oh, well. It's done with now, but I was surprised that the stink stayed that long.

Cliff