Useful though they may be, few people can say that oil tanks are attractive. However, getting rid of them completely isn’t really an option when you use heating oil. So what can you do? One of the best ways to deal with the often unsightly problem of a large oil tank sitting outside your house is to disguise it.
More than just simple decoration, hiding your oil tank so that it isn’t easily visible also has the added benefit of discouraging theft; if a potential thief is unable to see an obvious oil tank on your property at a quick glance then they are unlikely to bother investigating further.
This series of posts hopes to give you ideas on how you can disguise your oil tank, preventing it from drawing unwanted attention while hopefully also increasing the attractiveness of your property.
This month we’re looking at what the art of landscaping can do for your oil tank. Here are a few ideas:
- If your property has the earth to move around, it can be quite easy to sculpt some natural-looking hills into the surrounding landscape in order to more effectively camouflage it (more so than simply painting it green, one of the most common methods people employ in an attempt to disguise their oil tanks).
- Be careful not to bury your oil tank completely, however; a normal above ground oil tank cannot be buried, with only specially made versions able to be buried (and you require the permission of your regional environmental authority in order to do so). Additionally, remember that you will still need to be able to access it in order to refill it and get it serviced anyway.
- Some people go so far as to attempt to disguise their oil tank with sculpture. If custom commissioned this can, of course, be rather expensive, and can ultimately draw more attention to the tank. However, if painted accordingly (and the sculptures are suitably subtle), this can be rather effective.
