Our licensed team provides professional tank locating & sweeps services throughout Austin and the surrounding area. We are DEP-licensed, OSHA-certified, and fully insured. All permits are handled by our team, and we provide complete closure documentation for real estate transactions and regulatory compliance.
We use a combination of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and a magnetometer (metal detector) to locate buried tanks without excavation. GPR sends radar pulses into the ground and maps subsurface objects; the magnetometer detects ferrous metal. Together, these tools can locate tanks even when there are no visible pipes or records of installation.
GPR is highly accurate for detecting metal tanks within the top 6–8 feet of soil, which covers the vast majority of residential USTs. It can estimate the tank's size, depth, and orientation. Results are provided in a written report with a site diagram showing the tank's location relative to the property boundaries.
A tank sweep is recommended before purchasing any home built before 1975, when a home inspection report notes disconnected oil lines or fill pipes, when you notice unexplained fuel odours on the property, or when a previous owner's records are unavailable. It is a low-cost way to identify a potentially significant environmental liability before it becomes your problem.
If our sweep confirms the presence of a buried tank, we will advise you on the next steps — typically a soil assessment to check for leaks, followed by removal or abandonment-in-place. We can manage the entire process from the initial sweep through to regulatory closure.