I've used Tadco several times. They removed two separate tanks from when I am now (don't ask) and did sweeps and at least one removal on other properties. Safwat is great to work with.

Another vote for ATS - also recommended by our home inspector. They came on time, did a sweep both in the front and back yards and, if I recall correctly, provide a guarantee (in our case, no oil tank was found).

In regard to the comment ?if the tank is buried in front of the property and that area is paved, what is the big deal??. The big deal is the steel tank will eventually become paper thin due to corrosion and collapse leaving a very large sink hole. Also, many tanks were abandoned with oil still in the tank and once that oil leaves the tank, which it will, remediation of the property will be required by the State.

It is as important as having a home inspection performed to have a oil tank sweep done of the property being purchased. The reason is any removal or clean-up cost will be borne by the seller. Why risk the potential exposure of having to pay possibly thousands of dollars by not having a sweep performed?

Always make sure you hire a professional company that has been in business at least 3 years doing searches and shows proof of ?errors and omission? liability insurance. At ATS Environmental, we have been doing oil tank searches since 1995 and have literally found thousands of tanks.

In our experience, many homeowners purchased the house and never knew there was an underground tank. In some cases, we found some people even camouflaged the tank area. The report issued from a tank sweep where no tank was found, should be kept with your important papers because this is your insurance policy against a missed tank by the company that did the tank scan.

I also use ATS Environmental -- they were recommended by our inspector who I totally trust. Very easy to schedule, arrived on time, report came quickly. Fortunately our house as well as another that we bought did not have any oil tank -- the guy from ATS indicated the house probably went from coal to gas, and explained how the front basement window was probably a shute for coal why back when.

With regard to what's the big deal.
If you do have a buried oil tank, the problem may be when you try to sell. Many buyers will look to have a sweep done (wise move). Removing a tank can be expensive . Our neighbor had a tank that was half full and had a leak. The company removing the tank made the assumption that the tank was full and that half had leaked into the ground (not sure if this is typical -- but it is what happened to him). Ended up costing him around $18,000. And this was without any neighbors challenging that their property had been contaminated.

http://oiltanksweepnjllc.com

They did my oil tank sweep at my home in Newport. On time and Cheap

The impact of contamination is way different whether the area at stake is outside of the building or not. I would argue that every house in downtown JC has some level of contamination in the soil. If outside, the risk attached to oneself and one's neighbor is very small due to air circulation, much less that breathing one neighbor smoke actually. If people were really consistent with that argument, they would close most of Liberty State Park that still has plenty of forestry hexavalent chromium areas. I will never understand this as scientifically sound... but in my time here I have heard of plenty of shoddy paperwork. I know of some friends who had a view of a short sale on Jersey Avenue where a falsified soil test was communicated to them because the bank/owners obviously preferred doing that than risking a stain on the deed. They moved on to the suburbs.

Quote:

Well, it depends on whether they soil is contaminated, and whether you care if it is. Or if your neighbors care, since the pollution can reach their property and make them liable for it. Also, once the contamination test is done and comes back positive, the state will make you pay for the soil cleanup, which can cost anywhere from 5k to over 50k. The person who owns the property is the person responsible for cleanup, regardless of how long the tank has been in place or out of commission.

So, I suppose it all depends on whether the can of worms is opened by testing the soil. And it can be opened by a neighbor or by a future buyer who doesn't want that kind of liability.

At this point in time, it looks like homebuyers are being advised to do a tank sweep during the home inspection timeframe and to refrain from buying until the tank and any contaminated soil have been removed. I know I was so advised, and all my friends who bought in the last year were too. Our lawyer expressed that oil tanks have become the dealbreakers in over 50% of his residential transactions (of those that don't close).

If the tank is buried in front of the property and that area is paved, what is the big deal?

I used Tadco. They were good, particularly because they knew where to look for tanks on my street as they had done sweeps on various houses on my block (unbeknownst to us before hiring them). Another company hadn't located the tank, and if we had gone only with that first company, we would still have an oil tank in there.

Interestingly, after having bought the house, I was looking up the address online to see what I found, and found that the house had had a permit for an oil tank removal about 10 years ago. !!! I called the company that did it, and they verified that they had indeed removed another oil tank ten years prior.

Morals of the story - 1) make sure you hire a company that knows what they're doing or they'll miss the tank, 2) old houses may have more than one tank. Don't stop the sweep after finding one, make sure they sweep the whole property.

Hope you don't have a tank!It's so stressful.

We used this company twice this year, and I'm happy with what they did for us.

http://www.atsenvironmental.com/

Buying a home and want to do an
oil tank sweep. Can anyone recommend
someone?

Thanks!