What is a water slab leak?

Water is relentless.  Rivers formed the Grand Canyon and glaciers flattened the United States to create farmland throughout the heartland of America.  The same forces of flowing and freezing water can cause thousands of dollars of damage to your home.  Slab leaks can happen to any home on a slab foundation.  No matter the age of your home, no matter where you live.  Just because it does not freeze where you live, you may still have leaks beneath your slab.  California and Texas have some of the highest rates of slab leaks in the country, and deep freezes are few and far between.  For the rest of us, we can still have slab leaks, and then we must worry about freezing and thawing to boot.  As a slab leak detection and repair specialist, we have found that, surprisingly, most slab leaks on the pressure side of the plumbing happen in newer homes, built in the last 20 years.  Slab leaks on the drainage side of the plumbing happen in older homes, where the metal drainage pipes have simply worn away. 

Slab leaks can occur on the service line of your home from the water meter to the shut off valve in your home.  They can occur on a cold water supply line to any plumbing fixture in a home, or they can occur on the hot water line to any fixture using hot water.  They can occur on any drain line from any sink, toilet, shower, or washing machine.

Leaks on the pressure side of the plumbing can often be discovered before they cause a great deal of damage.  High water bills, noise, or wet spots in your yards can be signs of a slab leak on the pressure side of your plumbing.  These leaks are often found before too much time has passed, but they can also cause damage to a lot of your home.  The pressure of the water fills up the space beneath your slab and inside you foundation.  If it cannot escape through the foundation, it can find its way up through small hairline cracks in your slab and can flood your home! 

Leaks on the drainage side can be much more hidden and are harder to diagnose.  They can leak for years without any outward sign of leakage.  Think of all the nasty gray water hanging out under your slab, sloly wetting the soil, and then the soil dries, then wetting it, and then it dries.  Over time, your foundation can feel the effects.  These leaks can cause your foundation to buckle and can cause a good deal of smelliness if you have a crack in your slab.  Drainage pipe should be checked every so often just to make sure you don't have a problem. 

Of course if you may have a leak, call in a professional who can fix it right, not a kid with a sledgehammer who wants to make a mess in your home and may get lucky and find a leak.  Most leak detection companies, and some plumbers can find your leaks accurate to within a couple of inches; no matter what kind of slab leak, no matter where it hides. 

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