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You should definitely have the grounds swept for underground tanks because prior to 1960 most houses were heated by oil. Gas service became widely available from 1960 on. Also during the gasoline shortages of the 1970's, many people converted to gas at that time. We have been scanning properties since the mid 1990's and we have found that if the house was built prior to 1970 and is currently on gas service that 70% of the time we will find an underground tank. Cost of a sweep of the grounds should cost in the area of $300.
I speak from experience here. Bought a home in 2003. It had been vacant for a year and we didn't know why. It's a beautiful, charming, old home in a nice town. It was the winter and the ground was completely frozen, which our attorney used as an excuse as to why it was ok not to test the ground for contamination. He never even told us we could set up escrow funds to take care of an underground tank. He said the tank insurance from the oil company was all we would need, since it was an active tank. Our realtor at the time did not make one comment in regard to the underground tank. We got our homeowners from the same company that insured the house at the time so it was a very easy switch-over in regard to homeowners.
Years go by and we want to sell the house for shorter commute... We decide to change to gas since we had gas already in the home and the existing boiler was now literally 80 years old (an old coal-fired boiler that was converted to oil) and planned on decommissioning the tank. We found a new realtor who was a bit more "dynamic", but she said she won't take the listing due to the underground tank, and said we need to get the soil tested and tank removed. She was at a loss as to why our realtor never said anything to us, and why our attorney did not properly put funds into escrow for this tank if the frozen ground was really an issue, and allowing it to close without even a soil test. And yes, it came back that it had leaked.
We try to figure out what to do over the next year and enter job loss and subsequent pay cut. Then we find the state funds for remediation are gone. We aren't sure what happens when you get yourself on the waiting list; we can't find any info on that are afraid to do so. We owe more than the house is worth anyway now so selling isn't an option anyway. Our tank sits empty, not used (a friend took what little oil was left). We were not able to put the house on the market. We have no money to pay for excavation and/or remediation.
Fast forward a few more years. We made 2 homeowners claims in the last 5 years (thank you storms in NJ) and our homeowners (STATE FARM) policy is dropping us. Our agent won't even call us back. Guess what we can't get now either? No homeowner's policies will cover us with an underground tank on the property-they don't even get to the part about being dropped for "too many claims". We will have to obtain homeowners insurance, for the "uninsurable" from the state for an astronomical amount of money.
We did not know back in 2003 that this tank would mess up our lives so much. We are stuck in this house; unable to sell, unable to move, unable to insure it, unable to fix the mess. We may end up walking away from the house when the time comes, whenever that is. Please don't bash us- Had we known about any of this we simply would not have bought the property or would have insisted escrow funds be set up. These types of forums were far and few between in 2003 or I would've been on the internet researching it, just as I am doing now, and would've seen posts like these and known better. That is why we hired what we thought was a competent realtor and attorney to act in our best interests.
So my advice is to RUN. RUN away as fast as you can before you are caught up in a mess like this. If you must have any home with an underground tank, find an attorney who has dealt with tanks before. Have it removed, tested, and get that letter before closing.
Cost of a sweep of the grounds should cost in the area of $300.
And isn't that amazing. The house next door to me was sold last year and the guy "sweeping" the area for a buried tank was there no more than 15 minutes. I wish I could bill $1200 an hour for pretending to be doing something. Even Stevie Wonder could see where the 275 gallon inside tank had been in the basement before it was removed. I can only suppose how much the "tank sweeper" kicked back to the real estate agent.
And isn't that amazing. The house next door to me was sold last year and the guy "sweeping" the area for a buried tank was there no more than 15 minutes. I wish I could bill $1200 an hour for pretending to be doing something. Even Stevie Wonder could see where the 275 gallon inside tank had been in the basement before it was removed. I can only suppose how much the "tank sweeper" kicked back to the real estate agent.
Ever see someone sweep a property? Anyone can do it. You could buy a kick butt metal detector for $300 and sweep the property yourself, then have a metal detector to use/sell afterwards. LOL
I live in CT and we had a 1,000 gallon tank buried on the side of our driveway. We discontinued using oil about 10+ years ago and converted to gas. Our oil company at the time was notified of our decision to convert to gas. They removed all the oil that was left and that is all they did. The tank has been buried now for over 50 years. Because we need to replace our driveway, we decided to remove the oil tank because we are possibly selling our house in a few years when we retire and we know removing a buried oil tank that oid is a requirement before selling a house. The tank has been removed and the area filled in with dirt about a month ago and the soil was sent to be tested. After testing the soil, we were advised that the testing indicated oil in the soil. We were advised that it would cost between $5000-$8000 to remediate the area. A $5000 deposit was given and we have been waiting for clear weather and scheduling for the remediation to begin. Are there state of federal funds to reimburse us for this expensive remediation in CT and should the oil company, who removed the oil, filled the tank with sand, or made suggestions as to what we should do with the tank? What was the oil company's responsibility, if any, to the homeowner when we advised them that we are discontinuing oil and they removed the oil? We as homeowners should have investigated further but this is our one and only house and we neglected to investigate and now we have a hefty bill for remediation. Also, now that remediation will begin what should we be aware of?
In the process of looking for companies to remove my underground tank.
Any advice before the actual removal?
My two cents from an environmental consultant's point of view:
1. Make sure you're onsite to observe at all times, especially when they first remove the tank. There are shady companies out there that will up-play contamination to convince you to dig out more soil, do more work, etc. You want to make sure what you're being told is true. See if the contractor will bring a photo-ionization detector (PID) - this can screen soils to see if they are impacted. Levels above ~50 ppm typically come back contaminated above the standards at the lab.
2. Make sure the contractor measures - the size of the tank, the size (LxWxD) of the hole, the depth of the bottom of the tank and the depth to groundwater, if you see it. This will help future consultants with where to take samples, write reports, etc.
3. If you have been living in the house for a long time and your insurance at one time covered the tank, you may want to involve them from the start so their consultant can observe the removal. Sometimes the insurance company will have their consultant collect soil samples right then to evaluate soil quality which speeds up the process of additional investigation.
4. Shop around for a tank company that also works on industrial/commercial projects. The collapse of the UST Fund and decline in insurance coverage of tanks has tanked the residential market, meaning companies that work only in residential are hurting, making it more likely they'll up-play to get more money. A company with another source of income may be a bit more expensive to yank the tank, but may not be as hungry to make money off your back.
If I think of anything else I'll update my post later on. Good luck!
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