Hot Environmental Topics

Can you think of anything more boring to talk about than a crawlspace?  Tough to keep readers after that statement, but wait one minute.  Crawlspaces are important because:

1. As much as 50 percent of the air inside your home comes up from the crawl space.
2. Crawlspaces, attics, and unfinished basements are the 3 most common areas to find mold in a home.
3. Many Crawlspaces have HVAC ducts that can pull air from the crawlspace into your home. If the crawlspace isn't clean, neither is the air inside your home.
4. Damp crawlspaces will breed termites, spiders, ants, and other insects.
5. About 90% of crawlspaces we evaluate are in need of attention.

Here is the good news: Curren consults on environmental building issues, and I can explain both the DIY crawlspace management as well as hiring a company to address the crawlspace.    To be objective, both DIY and professional crawlspace management can have VERY similar results; the thousands of dollars between the two rarely justifies the marginal increase professional management achieves.

Water proofing (ahem, water management) companies that do crawlspaces will not want you to read this.

Why do Crawlspaces have mold growth?

Traditionally, builders either insulated the floor above the crawlspace or left it uninsulated, while keeping wall vents open for ventilation. This approach assumed that vents would remove moisture, but in humid climates, they actually allow moist air to enter. When this air contacts cooler crawlspace surfaces, condensation forms. This process often results in drooping insulation and mold growth on exposed wood.

Crawlspaces are typically cooler and less humid than outdoor air during summer, which draws moisture inside. Humid air then condenses on cold wood and concrete surfaces, creating a persistent moisture source. This design results in a high likelihood of mold growth, with a 90% probability.

 A crawlspace will, by nature, be cool in summer and less humid than outdoor air, so moisture and humidity will be drawn to the space, allowing the humid air to condense on the cold surfaces of wood and concrete in the crawlspace. This provides a continuous source of moisture in the crawl space.  This type of design has a 90% chance of allowing mold to grow.

This photo shows a crawlspace that has ATTEMPTED to control moisture; there is a black poly vapor barrier on the floor.  But if you look closely, you can see it doesn't cover the floor 100% (there is exposed soil).  There are also open vents that you cannot see.  Bottom line, the poor management of moisture is allowing mold to grow; you can see the white staining on the wood.

On a basic level, humidity is a real driver of mold growth in a crawlspace, but you can also have other sources. Physical water intrusion, gutters, plumbing leaks, as well as improper exterior management, can be contributing factors.

The historic design of a crawl space creates a perfect environment for mold. It has oxygen, it is dark, there is ample food (dirt, wood, insulation, animal waste), and as discussed, the temperature and humidity level create the perfect ecosystem for mold growth.

Crawlspace Management

Exterior of the Crawlspace

If you want to have a well-maintained crawlspace, let's start with easy to hard things you can do.  On the exterior perimeter of the crawlspace, all soil should be sloped away from the foundation, allowing water to flow away, not toward the crawlspace.   I would say 60% of inspections find the exterior grading in need of improvement.   Next, your roof leaders (gutters to the layperson) should have 5' to 10' extensions so rainwater flows far away from the foundation.  Understand that water in the soil around a foundation and even the masonry foundation will draw moisture into the crawlspace, so reducing the water around the foundations also decreases moisture in the space.

The easiest way to know if you need to do any of this is to actually go into the crawlspace when the weather is nice and again after or during a rainstorm to see if you are getting water entry.  You can also walk the exterior with an umbrella when it's raining to see if water puddles near the foundation; those are the problem areas.

Interior of the Crawlspace

There are three things you need to do to reduce moisture inside the crawlspace. 

First, seal all exterior vents in the foundation; this can be performed with rigid foam board, cut to fit.  Spray foam can be added along the edges to really seal the opening.   When you have the can of spray foam going, seal any penetrations in the foundation where you can see sunlight entering, like for hose bibs, utilities, etc.   You can also install plates on the outside of the foundation, like the photo to the left.  It's best to do both, as the foam board also insulates the opening.  An overlapping layer of plastic sheeting is placed on the floor of the crawlspace.  Home Depot sells a 6-mil roll of poly sheeting, 20' by 100', for $127.  You can use bricks to weigh down corners and along the seam.   A double layer is best; the hardest part is having to cut around internal supports in the space.

Install a dehumidifier with tubing that allows it to drain outside the crawlspace.  You will need electricity and installation in the approximate center of the space is best.  Every three months, you must pull out the screen and run it under water.   The photo to the left is a screen the owner never knew existed.  For a baseline, if you hold a clean screen up to your face, you can see through it; this one failed.

This DIY fix, excluding your labor, is approximately $1,000.00.  This is with about $300 in plastic, $350 for a decent dehumidifier, and the balance for other materials.  Larger spaces will cost more in materials. This assumes you have an outlet in the crawlspace to plug a dehumidifier into; otherwise, you need an electrician.   

Naysayers will tell you this approach doesn't 100% air seal the space. Well, guess what, none of them do.  Does every person use a dehumidifier in their basement?  It runs right? collects water, and your basement has walls? a floor and a ceiling?  Is it pretty sealed?  But not 100% apparently.

Pro Tip: If you are going to address your crawlspace for moisture, you should also address mold that likely formed before your fixes. Mold Remediation

Mold remediation of a crawlspace will remove existing mold and future-proof the space by applying a fungistatic coating (mold inhibitor) to the wood, which is the mold's food source.  Mold-resistant coatings have 10-year warranties to prevent mold growth on the surfaces where it is applied.  But in practice, you will be dead before mold grows on it as UV light breaks it down which your crawlspace doesn't receive.

Professional Crawlspace Management

You just received professional advice on managing your crawlspace.  But maybe you are physically unable to perform the recommended tasks.  Google "crawlspace management", scroll down about 8" on the page, scrolling by all the companies that are paying for placement of their ads, and look for organic search results.

• Installing a Vapor Barrier: A thick (typically 8 to 20-mil) polyethylene liner is installed across the entire floor and up the foundation walls and piers to help minimize moisture from entering the space.
• Sealing Foundation Vents:  Crawl space vents, air leaks, gaps, and cracks around plumbing and wiring penetrations are sealed to prevent unconditioned outside air and pests from entering.
• Insulation of foundation Walls: Foam board insulation is often installed on the interior foundation walls to stabilize temperatures and improve energy efficiency.
• Humidity Control: Installing a dehumidifier to remove any remaining moisture from the air and maintain optimal humidity levels (ideally between 45% and 55%).
• Drainage (if needed): In cases of active water leaks or potential flooding, an interior drainage system and a sump pump may be installed to remove standing water before it becomes an issue

The photo to the left shows a crawlspace with a vapor barrier on the walls and floor.  

Some companies will extoll the virtues of a conditioned crawlspace, meaning HVAC vents in the space are open to heat and cool the space.   Not a huge fan of conditioned crawl spaces since you are heating and cooling an area that is not habitable. 

The photo to the right is another crawlspace, which had a concrete floor;  no vapor barrier was needed.  The walls were insulated with foam board, and the outside vents were sealed.  This is a much cheaper approach, but really,  it could have been a $100 fix by just sealing the vents.  Here is what you do not see but should visualize:  that there is zero mold in this space, nor was there ever; the owner told me so as they paid for the insulation on the walls.  They are elderly, and they said they were told it was dangerous not to do the insulating - scammed. 

Want professional advice on a crawlspace? Call Curren.

How can you recycle like you mean it? Let's start with the top ten things you "cannot" recycle. 

1. Plastic Bags.  You may be able to bring them to your supermarket
2.  Items the size of a credit card, such as straws, plastic utensils, coffee pods, and credit cards.
3. Dirty food containers. General rule: if you cannot clean it before recycling it, you can't recycle it.  Food boxes impacted with food are an absolute no.   Dirty ketchup bottles are a no as well.
4. Plastic-coated paper, such as the interior coating of a coffee cup, is used to make the paper stronger. 
5. Plastics that are numbers 1 & 2 are the gold standard of recycling, yes. If you do not know what that means, go look at the number on the bottom of your detergent bottle, if the number doesn’t match with your local recycling program, it’s not recyclable.  

Pro Tip: Plastics with #4, #5, and #7 were recycled before 2018.

The recycling of these particular plastic containers was largely dependent on markets outside the USA. In 2018, China, which received most of these plastics, implemented a policy known as the National Sword. This resulted in greater restrictions on the importation of recyclables of any kind. Markets for #4, #5, and #7 plastics are now almost non-existent.

1. Plastic film, or bubble wrap, is a no.
2. Clothing hangers, metal or plastic
3. Ice cream containers
4. Styrofoam, but you already knew that.
5. Windows and mirrors

How to Recycle Properly

If there is one thing I have learned is that people do not know how to recycle properly. Working in an environmental company, all I have to do is look into the multiple blue recycling cans located in every room of our office and see where recycling efforts are failing.

Let’s start with the history of recycling. People had to be trained to recycle, so centers were established and programs implemented to create local recycling programs. Since facilities were not just built and waiting for materials, many early recycling collections sent the material to landfills. This was part of training people to recycle instead of throwing recyclable materials in the trash, even if the recycling went to a landfill.

To make you feel better, paper has been recycled for decades, and initially, trucking containers were dropped in shopping centers and central areas in populated areas where you could drive your newspapers (yep, dating myself here with newspapers), bottles,  and aluminum cans where you placed them in designated areas for pickup and transportation to recycling centers. Heck, cans and bottles in some states had 5-cent and 10-cent deposits that you could reclaim when you brought your cans and bottles to designated recycling centers.

All these end-user labor-intensive recycling operations were replaced with home and business pickup of recycled material. Initially, you had to segregate plastic from glass, bottles from paper, and then Single Stream Recycling was implemented, which allowed you to place all your recyclables in one container to be sorted at the recycling facility. This simplified approach to recycling created optimism never before seen in recycling and created a term called Wish Cycling. Meaning items that no one ever said were recyclable were considered recyclable by consumers and thrown into the single-stream bin. Items seen include ceramic coffee cups, leaded wine glasses, Nerf footballs, and of course, used pizza boxes.  None of these are actually recyclable under current programs and end up being segregated and landfilled. Food-impacted containers paper or peanut butter containers, are also not recyclable. Used pizza box no way.

What can you recycle?

Newspapers, magazines, junk mail with no cellophane window, cardboard boxes

• Plastic water bottles
• Beer bottles and cans
• Clean food containers

Pro Tip

When in doubt, throw it out.

Google your local recycling program, which will list what can and cannot be recycled.

The commercial real estate market offers a wide variety of properties that can host multiple tenants, creating multiple streams of income for landlords. Many of these spaces are flex spaces, which may include offices, light industrial operations, or warehousing. While this versatility is appealing, it also brings a higher potential for environmental complications compared to single-tenant office buildings.

A typical multi-tenant property could include tenants such as:

• A satellite sales office
• A solar installation company
• A gymnastic studio
• A light manufacturing business

Of these tenants, most could pose environmental risks. For example:

• Sales offices may store demo products, damaged or expired items, or cleaning compounds.
• Installation companies could store energy products or panels containing hazardous materials.
• Manufacturers often produce waste products that, in states like New Jersey, may fall under regulations such as ISRA (Industrial Site Recovery Act), requiring an environmental audit when the property is sold or transferred.

Even if a tenant who caused an issue has moved out, landlords remain legally responsible for environmental compliance. For example, one landlord recently paid $12,000 to complete an ISRA audit, while others have faced costs exceeding $100,000.

In another case, a property had 16 inches of environmental reports prepared for a buyer, but part of the property was still undergoing remediation. The seller had assumed the property was cleared based on prior reports. Pro tip: if you see references to the EPA, it’s usually a state agency like NJDEP, not the federal EPA—but it still signals a significant environmental concern.

These scenarios highlight why thorough environmental due diligence is critical for multi-tenant properties. A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) is always the starting point, though the typical 2–3 week turnaround may be too fast for complex sites. In many cases, a Phase II ESA is also warranted, especially for older buildings or properties with tenants who may have generated hazardous waste.

We recently worked on a property where cleanup from a current tenant was ongoing, with remediation expected to last another 18 months. The buyer’s lender ultimately declined financing due to the extended remediation period—underscoring the higher failure rate of transactions in multi-tenant spaces due to environmental factors.

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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?

Call the Experts

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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.

Expert Tank Advice 888-301-1050

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.

Call A Mold Professional

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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.

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