In the Pittsburgh area, there are a ton of older homes. I’m talking about homes that are in the 60 to over a 100-year-old age range! These homes in many cases were built close to the steel industry plants and mills of many years ago. This was before the big suburbia boom of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. It was common for folks to smell gas and other industrial odors. But it’s now 2018, and the city is becoming cleaner. The air is fresher and we are focusing on bringing fewer pollutants into the air. But with these older homes in Pittsburgh, we also have a lot of older gas lines coming into these homes underground.

As pipes age, they may become cracked or damaged. And sometimes they can be disconnected by things like surrounding tree roots. As a result, the odorized natural gas that flows through them will begin seeping to the top of the ground. You may notice a strange or smelly odor in your yard, especially a rotten egg-like odor. This may turn the grass in certain areas of your yard brown. A leaking gas line underground can cause the grass and vegetation above to turn brown and die. Dry spots in moist areas or dead plants surrounded by live, green plants is a classic indication that it could be time to replace the gas line coming into your home. So what should you do when you smell gas?

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