Hot Environmental Topics

Recently, we received an email from an associate in the real estate industry.

“I have a client purchasing a home built in 1988. The sellers stated that the prior owner mentioned a tank was removed before they bought the house. They don’t know if it was oil or propane. I requested an OPRA report, but am waiting for it to come back. Is it even possible for a home built in 1988 to have had a buried tank? The home inspector also noted evidence of prior oil heat but stated that searching for hidden or removed tanks is outside the scope of their inspection.”

Our Response

Yes — it’s 100% possible and, in many cases, likely. Most likely, the tank was an underground oil tank, although propane is possible if natural gas wasn’t available at the time.  We’ve seen homes built as recently as the early 2000s that originally used oil heat.

After obtaining the property address, we determined that the home did have an underground storage tank (UST) removed, and it had leaked, resulting in an NJDEP case number.

The OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request provided minimal information — only that a 500-gallon UST was removed in June 2014. Many people expect an OPRA to include detailed reports or test results, but it rarely does.

A “glass-half-full” person might assume the tank didn’t leak.

An experienced environmental professional would say: “Show me the documentation proving the tank did not leak.”

The Investigation Continues

Upon further review, we discovered that Curren Environmental had actually performed the remediation work years prior. (With thousands of projects completed annually, not every address immediately rings a bell!)

Fortunately, we were able to provide the NJDEP No Further Action (NFA) letter needed for the real estate transaction.

The Problem

The seller had no knowledge of the NFA or that it even existed. They only knew a tank had been removed — and some believed it was propane.

This is a perfect example of why, in real estate, you must trust but verify. Always confirm that what’s presented is accurate and supported by documentation before relying on it.

A Less Happy Ending

Not all cases end this smoothly. In another instance, we performed a tank sweep for a buyer on a beautifully renovated home listed at a premium price.

Our geophysical scan didn’t find a tank — but it did reveal groundwater monitoring wells, which typically indicate a history of contamination.  Further research uncovered that the property once had an oil tank that leaked and was never closed out with the NJDEP.

The contamination had not been disclosed, and the sale fell through. One year later, the home still hadn’t sold and was being rented out. In this case, the seller — a flipper — had purchased and renovated the property without doing proper environmental due diligence, tying up significant capital in a contaminated property.

The Takeaway

Inspectors in New Jersey are not required to search for buried or removed tanks — but your clients rely on you for guidance.  Recommending a tank sweep or environmental history review can protect your client from costly surprises and protect your reputation as a trusted professional.

Even honest sellers may be unaware of past tank leaks or remediation.  The only way to uncover these issues is through Buyer Due Diligence — verifying records, performing scans, and reviewing NJDEP data.

Final Thought

When it comes to environmental concerns in real estate:  Trust, but verify.  Always do your due diligence.

Hidden underground storage tanks pose serious environmental and financial risks to property owners. Whether you're buying a new property or suspect your current one may have undisclosed tanks, a professional tank sweep (also called a geophysical survey) is essential for locating these buried hazards before they become costly problems.

The Right Tool for the Job: Why GPR Beats Metal Detectors

When most people think about finding buried metal oil tanks, metal detectors seem like the obvious choice. However, this assumption can lead to missed oil tanks and false readings. Here's why:

The Metal Detector Problem: Underground environments contain countless metal objects—nails, pipes, rebar, natural iron deposits, and decades of buried debris. A metal detector will signal on all of these, creating a confusing maze of false positives that obscures actual tank locations as well as leads to exploratory digs. 

The GPR Advantage: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) works differently. Instead of detecting metal, GPR sends electromagnetic pulses into the ground. When these signals encounter any solid mass—whether it's a tank, void space, or density change—they bounce back to the surface unit. This creates a detailed subsurface image that trained technicians can interpret to identify tank-like anomalies while filtering out irrelevant metal debris.

Experience Makes the Difference

Having sophisticated equipment is only half the equation. The success of any oil tank sweep depends heavily on the technician's experience and knowledge.

Why Oil Tank Removal Experience Matters: At Curren, our technicians don't just operate scanning equipment—they've actually removed oil tanks from the ground. This hands-on experience with various installation methods, depths, orientations, and tank types provides crucial context that pure equipment operators lack.

No Standard Installation: Petroleum tanks were installed in countless ways over the decades. Some are horizontal, others vertical. Installation depths vary wildly. Some tanks were professionally installed while others were DIY projects with unique configurations. Only technicians who have encountered these variations in real removal projects can accurately interpret scanning data.

When Equipment Isn't Enough: A Real-World Case Study

Recently, Curren performed an oil tank sweep using over $50,000 worth of advanced scanning equipment. The sophisticated GPR and other instruments detected no subsurface anomalies that would indicate a buried tank.

However, our experienced technician observed multiple on-site clues pointing to historical oil heat usage. Combined with pre-survey historical research suggesting oil heating, the technician suspected a tank remained on the property despite the equipment readings.

The key insight? The technician determined the most likely tank location was beneath a building addition—an area physically inaccessible to our scanning equipment.

The Outcome: Months later, the property owner contacted us after removing interior flooring and discovering the leaked tank exactly where our technician suspected—buried beneath the addition, where no scanning equipment could reach.

The Bottom Line

This case perfectly illustrates why professional oil tank sweeps require both cutting-edge equipment and experienced interpretation. While GPR technology provides the best available subsurface imaging, it takes a seasoned professional to:

• Recognize site clues that equipment might miss
• Understand historical installation patterns
• Identify areas where physical access limitations affect survey results
• Correlate multiple data sources (equipment readings, visual clues, historical research)

When it comes to protecting your property investment from underground storage tank risks, don't settle for equipment alone—choose professionals with the experience to interpret what they find and, just as importantly, what they can't access.

• Curren was unable to scan under the addition. Based on the location of noted historical oil usage,  it is suspected that a heating oil UST is present under the addition.

I am confident most companies would have missed the oil tank.  I say this because in the same week we dug up a pile of stone that a company said was an oil tank, the stone did have a Metallic signature, it just was not a tank. 

Environmental Questions?

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Government environmental agencies consider removing a storage tank as remediation, because storage tanks are known to rust and leak petroleum, which can contaminate soil and groundwater.    Know that the government views storage tanks as an environmental liability.  In real estate transactions, attorneys, buyers, mortgage companies, and insurance companies also view tanks as a liability and want them removed.   Many tanks can be readily removed and tested, but some tanks require an excessive amount of effort to remove, which can exponentially increase the cost.  In these situations, tanks can be closed in place, with testing, as testing will confirm whether the tank did or did not leak.  Now we deal with parties that have their own opinion regarding what is or is not possible.  Curren is licensed in three states for tank work and has completed tens of thousands of tank closures. We are experienced in what is feasible and budget-friendly for clients.

Take this crawlspace tank.  It looks like an AST, but the federal definition says it's a UST as more than 10% of the tank volume is buried below the ground.   The client said it could not be removed, Curren said it was cheaper to remove than filling the tank in place.

Filling the tank in place would have taken more labor which would have cost more.  You can see how the area looks after removal, the concave area of the tank grave.

Cutting the tank into manageable pieces allowed the tank to be removed from the space.

This project is in contrast to the next property, where a tank had a sunroom built on top of the tank.  I am sure that when this was done, the owners never thought the buried tank would be an issue.

• The subject 1000 gallon tank is right through the sliding glass doors. 
• The tank is 1000 gallons and is about 11' long. 
•  The top of the tank is 3' deep.   
• You would have to support the sunroom to remove the tank, which does not make financial sense.

The fill pipe is pretty far from the door to the room, further complicating matters.

84" inches deep

48" diameter tank

84 - 48 = 36"   or 3' deep.

For this tank, removal could be done with some engineering, but it would cost significantly more than simple cleaning, testing, and filling the tank in place.  Of course, you could also demolish the sunroom and remove the tank, but that would also cost more, and you would lose a sunroom.

In this circumstance, you cut an area of the floor out, hand dig to the tank top, 3' deep, enter and clean the tank, cut coupons, holes in the bottom of the tank, and acquire soil samples for laboratory analysis, backfill, and restore the floor.  Everything is documented in a report.

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The term "mold" correlates to fungi (although not all fungi form molds, some form mushrooms), and mold is often called mildew (because "mildew" sounds better than "mold"). No matter what you call it, finding mold during a real estate transaction is a negative. How you manage mold can have a huge impact on the real estate transaction.

To be clear, mold is a known indoor air contaminant and a health hazard, underscoring a bigger issue: a water issue that can be destructive to building materials.

The health concern can give an out to a buyer, as the home can be viewed as uninhabitable. A failed sale also red ones the property as having some issue that caused it to fall out of contract. Relisting the property means disclosing the mold growth and any other defect noted from the buyers’ inspection.

Those are some of the negatives, so let’s flip the coin to the positive side. Finding mold means confronting it head-on.   Determining cause (Was it fixed? Is it defined?), fixing the mold (remediating to whatever extent necessary to bring the indoor environment to a normal fungal ecology), and lasting documenting these facts to the buyer. In short, you are defining and addressing, for lack of a better term, the cancer.   Fixing the issues solves the issue. I can freely say that after 30-some years of environmental consulting, I have never said Do Not Buy that property because of mold.

So, how do you manage mold in a real estate transaction?

When mold is found or suspected, assess what you know at that point.

1          Do you know the cause?

2          Do you know the source?

3          If you do not know 1 & 2, you do not know the cost to address.

If you can't answer 1 through 4, you need to take steps to answer the questions.   Understand if an inspector notes mold in an attic, unless it was a paid inspection, you will not have the data to answer these questions.

This utility room houses HVAC equipment, a water heater & a washer and dryer.  There are three typical causes of mold in this room. Mold was found; do you know where, the cause, and the fix?   We did.

Mold Questions

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This leads to having a professional mold inspection performed. Yes, there are specific paid inspections to evaluate a property for mold. Did you know you can test for mold and evaluate the fungi found, which helps unlock the driver (cause) of the mold was.   Yes, different molds need different conditions to grow.

Keep in mind that unless a mold inspection was contracted as part of the purchase due diligence, meaning that in addition to your home inspection, radon testing, termite, piling inspection, engineering, roof, pool, septic, etc., then mold was not specifically looked for, but it was noted by an inspector or a relative with a keen eye. This drives you to needing to get a professional involved.

What can you expect from a professional mold inspection?

Confirmation that mold is or is not present.

Evaluation of the causes of the mold and the extent of the mold. Yes, mold can have multiple causes.

Lastly, a budget to address the mold (remediate) and repairs that may have been missed to prevent the mold from returning.

It is not uncommon that after the mold inspection is completed, the real estate settles, either before of after the mold is remediated. Yes, it is common that there is not enough time to address the mold before settlement. We are seeing payments to environmental companies directly from settlement accounts (title Company), which ensures the mold is addressed.   Reading between the lines here is telling, for buyers and lenders to proceed to settlement when mold is not addresse,d is saying there is a comfort level about the mold being addressed.

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Use your Environmental card to sell real estate faster, by card I mean having a Phase I completed as a selling feature.  Never thought about having a Phase I sell a property?  Read on my friend.

Environmental due diligence is a mainstay of real estate transactions; it doesn’t matter if it’s residential, commercial, or industrial, but it is typically the last task completed.    I know this from 30-plus years of real estate transactions. Sellers and their representatives do not want to take the first step forward in evaluating a property for environmental issues. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the ostrich effect.   Sellers wait until the buyer pulls the proverbial environmental trigger, shocking the seller that something was found, or the seller being surprised that environmental due diligence was even performed.   Don’t believe me, ask any realtor about environmental due diligence they had to face in a transaction, and the delays it caused.

On many sites, the sale grinds to a slow crawl while the seller digests the problem and the cost to address it.   Some buyers hang on waiting for work to be completed, but to say work can take a few months for some issues can push buyers to the next property. I had one that was going on for 10 months, the buyer just had to walk due to the length of time.

You want a fast closing, do your environmental due diligence before the property is listed. For a residence that can include a tank sweep and mold inspection, as these are the common environmental issues in homes. On commercial properties, perform a Phase I. Think of it as a sales brochure on the property. You may already have one from when you bought the property. Since they are only good for 6 months to a year, a fresh Phase I is needed. Maybe you never did a Phase I and hope a buyer will follow suit. Don’t count on it, that is the whole point of this exercise is to anticipate what environment will be needed to allow the sale to go through.

Your best case is that Phase I finds no issues, which is a huge selling feature for buyers.  It makes your property more appealing than competing properties, because the OTHER properties have an undefined environmental status. What property do you want? The one with the questions answered or the one with questions?

Due Diligence Questions?

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I will even turn the page to a Phase I finding an issue, and now a Phase II is needed, meaning testing. This is when many buyers stop the sales process because they have already spent money on inspection and do not care to test a property; they do not want to find something the owner may not address. A Phase II, when necessary, is the slam dunk step for a seller to undertake. If no issue is found, you are done. If an issue is found, well,l you have all the time to address it before a buyer comes along.  Matter of fact, after 30+ years of performing environmental due diligence, I can say with 100% certainty that sites that have had environmental completed before a property is listed for sale, sell faster and for more money.

Being forward-thinking and looking for environmental issues BEFORE a buyer comes along may seem counterintuitive, but it’s not; it’s being proactive to put the property in the best light possible.

The New Jersey Lead Safe law is approaching its 3-year birthday on July 22, 2025.   Since its inception, two sets of law changes have taken place.   The law has extended the deadline one year (to July 22, 2025) and made some tweaks to the inspection area.

The more impactful change was decided in February 2025, when the inspection requirements for 53 towns had their inspections requirements changed.  

Ten (10) New Jersey towns (1.8%) moved from visual inspection to dust wipe sampling, a more intensive inspection. 

and

Forty-three (43) towns, down from the current 84, (7.6%), moved from dust wipe sampling to visual inspection, a less intensive lead inspection.

Any town with dust wipe requirements means that a percentage of children had an elevated lead blood level.   Lessening the number of New Jersey towns that require dust wipe sampling underscores the success of the NJ Lead Safe Law.

Fifty-three towns are a small percentage of all the municipalities in New Jersey, and this change impacts 9.4% of towns, and most of those have moved to an easier, less costly lead methodology.   The lead law change was not provided to the companies that perform the inspection, but rather the municipalities, meaning sites were inspected improperly.  This change shows just how hard it is to keep track of the NJ Lead Safe Law.

The lead law is evolving, and compliance with the lead law and the liability when units fail is a headache for landlords.   Curren Environmental has been consulting on environmental issues for over 27 years.   Our team can help you with compliance with environmental matters, including lead.

Call the Experts

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The four-letter word MOLD, elicits emotional responses from people for different reasons depending on how and where mold is found.    If someone is having health concerns mold will be a target source of the problems and these people will want it investigated professionally.  If you are buying a home finding suspect mold or obvious mold, will require further professional evaluation as to the extent and cause.  Lastly, if you are selling a home and the buyer finds suspect mold, you need professional representation to manage the issue.

Bottom line if you think you have mold or find mold you need a professional to assess the mold.  Unless of course, you started the project with one. 

If there is one thing, I know about mold it is that it is an indoor, biological air contaminant, and anyone associated with it wants it addressed (quantified) or for it to disappear. 

If you are living with health issues your mold consultant needs to inspect and test your environment, to determine if mold is a factor in your health issues.   This inspection encompasses interviewing the individual having the health concerns, inspection of living spaces, target sampling of complaint rooms and a summary report of findings.  These three tasks which are more extensive than they sound are rarely completed, because the industry lacks environmental professionals qualified in mold evaluation.

Case in point, a couple is buying a home, and their due diligence entails a title search and a home inspection.  The home inspector notes mold-like growth on the basement foundation wall and adjacent sheetrock wall.   The buyers obtain a free mold inspection, which provides costs to remediate and does not diagnose the cause of the mold growth.   Now professionals are not free and the buyers got what they paid for, which was a free estimate to remediate which they gave to the seller.  The cause of the growth was not diagnosed.

The seller being presented with a mold issue wanted their representation, so they are in control of the process.  As you might imagine, Curren was the paid environmental consultant.  Our evaluation included inspecting and determining what was causing the mold growth as a foundation wall is made of concrete, which is not organic and is naturally resistant to mold.     Mold was confirmed as mold was growing on the painted concrete foundation (paint is organic) and it was a small area of the basement wall, perhaps 4% of the entire basement wall area.   This wall was found to have been painted multiple times, likely to address the mold growth.  The walls were evaluated with a moisture sensing infrared camera, which found high moisture levels across the wall where mold was present and normal moisture levels on walls that had no growth, so the fuel for the mold was the water, which was determined to not be indoor plumbing but exterior moisture.  The outside area had multiple issues that allowed water to migrate and sit by the foundation where the wall was found to have mold. 

Appropriate remediation would be to address the mold and the water issue outside, and to be fair the exterior water controls would cost more than the inside mold remediation.  The seller asks the buyer what they want to do (the buyer does not have a professional opinion, but rather a free quote to remediate).  The buyer wants the free remediation quote completed, which the seller pays to complete.

Mold comes back and the new owners are perplexed why they still have a mold problem.

Mold Questions?

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I was in Home Depot and there was an overhead public service announcement regarding lead being present in pre-1978 homes and that DIYers should be aware of lead hazards.   To say lead is not a concern or popular is to ignore how serious a health hazard lead is.

So should you get a lead paint inspection?

Seriously, the need for a lead paint inspection relates to why you are interested in inspecting for lead, in short, what is your objective?

If you have a commercial property, you are renovating or demolishing, you may be required to perform a lead paint inspection, so workers are not exposed to lead hazards as well as for management of demolition material that contains lead.

If you are a homeowner or future homeowner and let’s, say you want to buy an older home, for argument's sake the home is circa 1920, and you want to see if lead is present in the home? That is a common request we receive and long before we show up to inspect, I can say 100% you have lead in the home as the home was built during the golden age of lead paint usage, also lead based stains and varnish usage. So if you want to get depressed and have this older home inspected for lead, feel free.

 Perhaps you realize that the home has lead, it must be because it was built at some point before 1978. (Lead paint usage was banned on residential properties in 1978.)   Your concern or objective is to limit lead exposure to your young children. You see children are more susceptible to lead exposure as toddlers will put everything in their mouth and will chew on surfaces. A home with lead paint can generate lead dust and can have CHEW surfaces for kids. Meaning a low windowsill can be found to have teeth marks on it from kids chewing on the wood because that’s what kids do.   Lead also has a sweet flavor profile so why not suck on things that contain lead. Lead dust from rubbing of friction points (doors, windows) lands on floors, where kids crawl and then they suck their hands, that’s your lead exposure.   Protecting your family with a lead paint inspection is a solid reason to have an inspection completed.   You do not have to test the entire house, but you can inspect rooms where you expect toddlers to inhabit, family rooms, bedrooms, and play areas.   Know if lead is present in these rooms and where allows you to mange the risk. Managing risk may mean renovating areas to remove lead or protecting surfaces so lead will not become liberated.

If I am renovating a house, should I get a lead paint inspection?

100% testing for lead before renovation is a smart idea. Testing for lead will protect people working in the space.  If you know lead is present and where, then you can manage the hazard. If no lead is present or lead is present on surfaces that will not be disturbed, you will not be creating a lead hazard.  Lead knowledge is valuable.

 Why should I have my home inspected or assessed for risks?

• Your child has been diagnosed as having lead poisoning. The most common home-based source of lead exposure is deteriorating lead-based paint and the resulting dust.
• You live in a home built before 1978 where small children are or will be living.
• You are about to remodel or do anything that will disturb lead-based paint or generate lead-based paint dust and chips that can harm you and your family.
• You are renting or buying a home. When buying a home, federal law (Title X) allows the buyer to test for lead.      

 What is the difference between an inspection and a risk assessment?

A lead paint inspection is a surface-by-surface investigation to determine whether there is lead-based paint. Lead-based paint inspections determine the presence of lead-based paint.

A lead risk assessment is an on-site investigation to determine the presence, type, severity, and location of lead-based paint hazards (including lead hazards in paint, dust, and soil) and provides suggested ways to control them.

You can also have a combined inspection and risk assessment.  With any of these options, the risk assessor or inspector will provide you with a written report of findings.

The above photo shows a radiator that has been painted multiple times, you can see paint flaking off, the paint is lead and this would constitute a lead paint hazard.  If the paint was not lead, no hazard.

Do I have to inspect the entire property for lead?

You do not have to inspect the entire property for lead if you do not want to and you are planning on living in the property. Many people want specific rooms or surfaces tested so they can decide what renovations they want to perform.

Lead Inspection Questions?

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What is end results of a lead paint inspection?

After you complete a lead paint inspection, you will know where lead is or is not present. This information is also to be shared in the future when you sell the property as you must disclosure your knowledge of lead paint. Older properties that are found to have no lead can obtain lead exempt (lead free certifications), making the property more valuable.

You should not rely on the ERMI. Unfortunately, many people, including companies, are relying on the ERMI incorrectly. The ERMI, or Environmental Relative Moldiness Index, was developed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) researchers. It is a research tool and is not recommended for use except as a research tool (this is as per EPA).

The ERMI scale for estimating mold contamination was developed for use in research studies related to mold exposure and health impacts. ERMI has been peer-reviewed for research purposes only and has not been validated for non-research purposes. Meaning the creator of the ERMI, the EPA does not recommend the use of ERMI in homes, schools, or other buildings.

The ERMI methodology uses mold-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (MSQPCR) to quantify 36 molds and calculate an index number for comparison with a database of reference homes. The ERMI provides a scale that ranges from a low of approximately -10 to a high of about 30 and can be used by extrapolation or estimation to estimate a U.S. home’s relative level of moldiness compared to the AHHS representative national selection of homes.    

What was the AHHS representative selection of homes?

1131 homes across the U.S. as part of the 2006 HUD American Healthy Home Survey is the base participants in private and public residences. A 3-stage cluster sample was used to select a nationally representative sample of 1,131 homes.  Samples were collected via surface wipes from four common living areas, homeowner vacuum bags, and soil samples from outside the home. Lead testing in paint was conducted using a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) instrument.   All samples were collected during a single day.  Relevant environmental contaminant data included measurements of lead paint, 
lead dust, lead in soils, mold, allergens/endotoxins in dust, arsenic in soil, indoor moisture measurements, and indoor pesticide residues.  Housing type and age, demographic information on residents (age, race, income group, ethnicity), electrical safety, structural stability, moisture, pest control, ventilation, injury prevention, fire safety, deterioration of carpet, and plumbing facilities were also collected.   As you can see the survey (study) covered many factors not just mold.   If you care to see the meta data sheet for the survey, click here American Healthy Homes Survey (AHHS)

So being a research tool, the ERMI assessment has been used by EPA to help characterize relative levels of mold contamination in homes and other buildings and is being used to investigate potential relationships between ERMI values and health effects.    Now this is being evaluated by researchers as there are zero published government standards for acceptable or unacceptable levels of mold in a built environment. That said to date research is finding that a higher ERMI value in homes have been correlated with a greater likelihood of occupant asthma.    But this trend has not been validated through a multi-lab study, so the accuracy of information is unvalidated.

Now there are labs in the United States that have licensed the ERMI testing from EPA however, the transfer of this technology under the Federal Technology Transfer Act cannot be used to make any claims suggesting that the ERMI is an EPA-approved or validated test.  Meaning this is not an EPA approved testing approach for mold at the present time.

Why do you even know about the ERMI? You are likely concerned about mold and perhaps think you have a mold problem. You looked up mold testing and contacted a so-called mold professional who perhaps is advocating testing for mold and utilizing the ERMI scale. The testing is unvalidated as previously stated and is meant to be used for research only. If you want to be part of a science experiment and have extra money for that endeavor, have at it. If you think you have a mold problem, you need a professional mold inspection which is based in inspection for water damage (past or present) which are current EPA mold-assessment guidance.  Your visual assessment looks for mold growth, water damage, infrastructure deterioration and is performed by a professional with experience in such matters. The inspection can use IR technology, borescope and other specialized equipment but each has limitations, and their use is based on specific site conditions.

EPA does not recommend testing for mold when obvious mold is present (read visible mold).

For example, do you really think it is prudent to test either of the areas in the below photos?  Mold is obvious, what is not 100% obvious is the cause and if other areas in these rooms have a mold problem.

This is based on a commonsense approach that resources (read money) be spent to address the problem rather than turning it into a science experiment. But there are many situations where mold is present out of sight and air sampling is one of the best tools in the tool bag to help find hidden mold.     Even without government standards air testing can help define a normal fungal ecology (meaning what are normal mold spore levels in a built environment.). Since mold is ubiquitous you will have mold spores in the air when you test, wherever you test. The differential is what spores are found by testing and in what concentrations, the evaluation of spore type and concentration will allow an inspector to evaluate a given space for mold-related problems. 

The photos below show air sampling for mold and both found mold that was not visible to the naked eye.  Meaning mold was present behind the walls.  The photo to the right, many possible water sources as it is a utility room that has a water heater, washer and dryer, and an HVAC unit with a condensation pump.  All these items have the potential to release moisture in the space.

A key consideration, which many people overlook is if the space being evaluated appears to have had water issues. This evaluation should also evaluate if perhaps the area "could" have had water issues that were addressed (repaired) but mold could still be present behind walls.  The easy approach to water damage is to clean and paint, not remove and replace.  When you only touch up an area, you are likely leaving mold behind walls.  This mold, most likely dormant allows spores to get airborne and will grow when moisture conditions are conducive.    The bottom line is you must approach all mold assessments and testing based on the evaluation of conditions that could or would allow mold to grow.  That answer will lead you to the problem.

Want expert mold advice? Call Curren today. 

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This is one of the most popular questions asked when an oil tank is involved in a real estate transaction. Worst case scenario oil tank leak is a loaded question - it can't be answered with limited information. Limited information is a few soil samples that show contamination. 

What is the Worst Case Scenario for an oil tank leak?

• The remedial cost exceeds the value of the property.
• The dwelling must be torn down to remediate the contamination.
• Contamination extends under the street and you are responsible for it.   Conversely, the contamination goes onto the neighbor’s property and you are responsible for it.

These are all residential, heating oil tank leaks.  Commercial tanks with commercial problems - well worst case starts at $500,000 and goes up from there and usually takes years to solve, it’s a slow bleed.

What costs could these worst-case residential oil tank leaks involve?   Every residential oil tank leak is different and these costs can approach up to a million dollars.  Curren Environmental is currently working on a site that is budgeted at $540,000 for remediation and we have to let them know that’s not the worst case that we have seen.

Curren had a site listed for $1,100,000.00 and spent $475,000 to begin the cleanup. The site never got clean, has contamination permits in place, and sold for $975,000.   That’s not the worst case, but a sad story because the owner ended up losing money on the sale of the property. 

We were involved with a site where the house had to be torn down and the owner is having a problem with zoning to rebuild the house because the house footprint does not conform to the lot size and since the foundation is gone, you must comply with current zoning setback and impermeable ground cover. That’s kind of a worst case, you can’t rebuild to the same footprint.

The common denominator is when someone asks "What is the Worst Case scenario of an Oil Tank Leak", there is no truthful answer due to the lack of information that would allow a professional to assess and provide a realistic opinion.

Doctors call it a diagnosis, which is provided after testing and evaluation. Environmental consultants call it a delineation where we test and assess and evaluate options to remediate. We define the vertical and horizontal extent of contamination, what media is contaminated is it just soil, or is groundwater impacted as well?   If you don’t know how big or small the problem you can’t guess the worst case, some sites only cost $75,000.