Slab leaks may not always be easy to detect, but are incredibly crucial to watch for. Slab leaks are leaks in your water line running below the concrete of your floor. Slab leaks can cause damage to your home and be costly to fix if not addressed immediately. Luckily, there are a few ways to determine where your slab leaks are if you remain observant of small changes in your house. Here is how to identify slab leaks and how to deal with them:
Slab Leaks Cause Water Damage
This is the most obvious way that slab leaks can be found. Water damage causes many symptoms like mildew growing underneath your carpeting. You may also see cracks in your flooring, or bubbling of your linoleum flooring as the leak gets bigger. If there was a leak in your main water line, you would notice a drop in water pressure throughout the house. Your pool may even look like it’s losing water, if the leak is bad enough. Watching for water damage and appliances that are affected by water is an easy way to detect a slab leak.
Other Ways to Identify Water Line Leaks
A scary thing about slab leaks is that they can affect the foundation of your house. These leaks can cause cracks in your baseboards, walls, and flooring, whether or not they are close to the leak. If your leak is coming from a hot water line, you may even notice a warmth underneath your feet. And the last things you should check would be any sudden changes in your water bills and your water meter’s reading, unusual movement, and leak detectors.
How to Fix Slab Leaks
This is of course where things get a bit complicated and require more professional help. Once you have found the location of your leak, you must remove the flooring of that area and use a jackhammer to get through the concrete and dirt underneath. At this point, you may simply replace the copper tubing of your water lines or you may have to reroute your pipes. This involves knowing how to use a hacksaw and coupling new and old pipes together. This process can be incredibly messy, dusty, and dangerous to those who don’t know how to use the tools to repair the pipes properly.
Unseen Slab Leaks
While you can definitely find slab leaks by checking the condition of your house, there are still some slab leaks that go unseen. When it comes to this, the best thing to do is call a professional AZ plumber that help you find the leak before it ruins any more of your home. Deer Valley Plumbing takes pride in being able to assist clients in finding and fixing problems in a timely manner for a reasonable price. This way you don’t have to take a jackhammer to your floor to find a water line leak, and you can get your house functioning correctly again as quickly as possible.