Houston slab leak repair

Often you do not, and that is normal. A leaking water heater, a failed toilet seal, or a broken irrigation line can present the same way from inside the house. The quickest check at home is to shut off every fixture and watch your water meter. If it is still moving, water is escaping somewhere, and identifying where is our job.

No. Detection is non-invasive. Electronic listening equipment, pressure testing, and infrared imaging narrow the leak to a specific spot, so if concrete does come up for the repair, it is one small opening rather than exploratory holes across a room. In many Houston homes we reroute the line overhead and never open the slab at all.

Four things account for most of them. Pipe that has simply reached the end of its service life leads the list, followed by soil movement stressing the line, sections of pipe abrading against gravel or rock until they wear through, and installation problems that date back to when the house was built. Older copper under a slab is by far the most common thing we find.

Detection typically takes a couple of hours. The repair depends on what we find. A spot repair on an accessible line is frequently a one-day job, while a reroute or partial repipe can run two to three days. We give you a realistic timeline once we know exactly what we are dealing with rather than before.

Coverage varies significantly by policy. Many policies pay for the resulting water damage but not the pipe repair itself, and some cover the cost of accessing the pipe without covering the pipe. We document what we found and what we did so you have what you need to file. Read your policy or call your agent before assuming either way.

It is not advisable. Water under a slab washes soil out from beneath your foundation, and that is precisely how a plumbing problem turns into a structural one. You are also paying for every gallon in the meantime. A slab leak is rarely a same-hour emergency, but it does not get cheaper by sitting.

If you are seeing a warm spot, hearing water with everything off, or watching the bill climb, shutting the main off between uses limits both the damage and the waste. If the water heater is involved, turn that off as well. Then get us out so you are not without water any longer than necessary.

It comes down to the condition of the rest of the line and how difficult the leak is to reach. A single failure in otherwise sound pipe usually calls for a spot repair. When the pipe is old enough that another leak is likely soon, or the leak sits under tile, cabinetry, or a load-bearing area, rerouting above the slab is frequently cheaper and less disruptive over the long run. We show you both options with the cost of each.

Ask us when you schedule and we will tell you exactly what the detection call runs and what it includes before we send a truck out. Estimates on the repair itself are free once we know what we are working with.