Under the slab
Finding a slab leak before it turns into a bigger job than it had to be
Electronic detection, a video camera run down the line and static water testing tell us where a slab leak actually is, so the repair matches your house instead of a guess under the whole floor.
Chapter 01
The ten signs, roughly in the order you'll notice them
Most people don't set out looking for a slab leak. They notice the water bill first, a number that's higher than it should be with nothing in the house running any differently. Not long after that, some notice the sound itself, water moving somewhere in the house when every tap is off.
From there the signs tend to show up in the house rather than on a bill. Mold growth in a spot that's never had a moisture problem before. Water pressure that's dropped without an obvious reason. A patch of floor that stays warmer than the rest of the room, which usually means a hot water line is running under it. Baseboards that stay damp along the bottom even when nothing nearby has spilled.
By the time the signs move into cracking floors, wet carpet, or a foundation that's shifted enough to notice, the leak has usually been running for a while. Oklahoma's clay soil moves with the seasons, swelling when it's wet and pulling back when it dries out, and that movement is hard on rigid lines running under a slab. Pooling water on the floor, with no plumbing fixture nearby to explain it, is usually the point people finally call.
A close view into an opened wall cavity showing copper supply lines and a drain stack part way through a re-pipe
Finding it without opening the whole floor
Cutting into a slab to go looking for a leak is the old way, and it's expensive and disruptive for no good reason when the equipment exists to find the line first. Electronic leak detection listens for the sound a pressurized line makes escaping through a crack, and narrows the search to a specific area of the slab instead of the whole footprint of the house.
A video camera run down the line adds a second confirmation, letting us see the actual condition of the pipe rather than guessing at it from sound alone. Static water testing checks whether the line holds pressure over time, which tells us whether we're dealing with an active leak or a line that's fine while the water comes from somewhere else entirely. Together, these three methods usually get us to the exact spot before anyone lifts a single tile.
Chapter 03
Repair, re-route or re-pipe, and what each one costs you in disruption
Once we know where the leak is, the decision is repair, re-route or re-pipe, and each one asks something different of your house. A repair means opening a small section of slab or wall at the leak itself and fixing that one spot, which is the least disruptive option when the rest of the line is in decent shape.
A re-route runs a new line above the slab, usually through a wall or attic space, and avoids cutting concrete at all. It's the right call when the rest of the existing line has more trouble ahead of it. A full re-pipe replaces the supply lines throughout the house, a bigger job up front, but it means you're not back here in six months for the next section of the same old pipe. We'll walk you through which one actually fits your house before anyone starts.
Plumb Genius, Licensed and insured, contractor license #80783. Free phone estimates, priced up front before any work starts. Call (405) 282-7586.
On the truck
The detection kit that comes with every slab job
Whichever of the ten signs brought you to call, the same kit gets used to confirm where the leak actually is before anyone opens anything up.
Finding the leak itself
- Accurate slab leak detection
- State of the art electronic and gas leak detection equipment
- Electronic and video camera slab detection
- Static water testing
Checking everything else while we're out there
- Sewer and drain line leak detection
- Sewer line inspection
- Yard leak detection
Confirmed before anyone opens anything up.
Electronic detection, a video camera run down the line and static water testing tell us exactly where a slab leak is before we cut into a single tile. Licensed and insured, contractor license #80783.
Not sure yet if it's the slab? Call and we'll help you work it out.
Phone estimates are free, and if what you're describing sounds like something else, we'll tell you that too.