Help to Decide Whether You Have a Slab Leak

If you have a slab leakage, it can be a catastrophe for your house. Depending upon the kind of slab leakage you have, you might not even noticed it for rather a long time!

While you could require a concrete drill to ultimately get to the leakage, you definitely do not have to begin destroying your floors simply to search for it. Slab leaks have telltale indications that you can see without utilizing heavy equipment.

Time for some Fun:

Q: What's the main difference between an electrician and a plumber?

A: An electrician washes his hands AFTER he has gone potty, but a plumber washes his hands BEFORE he goes potty.

How do you know if you have a slab leak? These 11 tips might assist you in finding the answer:

1. If it seems like there's water running, however you know that none of your taps are open, you can have a slab leakage. Slab leaks have the tendency to either make a hissing noise or a splashing noise. If you listen thoroughly, you might have the ability to hear it.

2. If you begin to observe that one certain location of your floor is warm, it could be an indicator that a warm water line is leaking below your slab. Generally, warm water line leaks are found earlier, due to the fact that you can feel them right under your feet!

3. If you have actually begun to see wetness or mildew beneath your carpets, it could be an indication of a leakage. As the water begins to gather, it has nowhere to go but up.

4. Fractures in tile floors or bubbles in linoleum floors are good indicators of a leaking pipe somewhere.

5. If you see fractures in your walls, it could be an indication of a slab leakage. Because your slab is one single piece that's made from concrete and steel, it does not give at all. A leakage can trigger the whole thing to move. As your foundation shifts, it will certainly begin to influence your whole house - even walls and floors that are nowhere near the leakage.

6. If it looks like your swimming pool is regularly losing water, you might have a leakage.

7. If your water pressure has actually all of a sudden gotten extremely low, it could be an indication of a slab leakage. Lots of slab leaks take place in the main water line - or where the water streams into your house from the outside. Even a small leakage in your water line, may results in a substantially drop in water pressure.

8. If your water expenses have actually escalated suddenly - and you have no inkling why - it could be an indicator of a leakage someplace. The damage from slab leaks can accumulate swiftly; a very small hole in a pipe can leak out more than 10,000 gallons of water in simply one month!

9. See exactly what your water meter is doing. Make certain that all your taps are shut off, that the toilet is not running, that the washing machine and dishwasher is off, go outside, and have a look at the water meter. The dial must not be moving. If it is, you most likely have a leakage.

10. Some water meters have leakage detectors within them that resemble a little black or white triangle or wheel. If it is spinning - or moving at all - it suggests that there is somewhere a leak.

11. Examine your water meter reading. Ensure there is no water running throughout your home, then go outdoors and check out the numbers on your water meter. Leave all the water off for a minimum of half an hour, then inspect the numbers once more. If the number has actually increased, you'll know there is a leakage.

Read more about Wet Basements

What Type of Slab Leaks do You Get?

There are normally 2 kinds of under slab leaks: namely sewer leaks and water line leaks. If your water lines are leaking, you will immediately be alerted when receiving your water bill. Even a pin hole in a water line can leak out over 10,000 gallons in one month. On the other hand, sewage systems can leak for many years without anyone any the wiser. Unless the leak is in expansive soil and a leakage is pouring out enough water that lead to swelling soil, there might be no indicators of the leakage.

When a water line or a sewage system line leaks sufficient water into expansive soil, the soil can in fact swell up and lift a building. This is called heaving. In cases where a leak is triggering heaving, the presence of the leakage may be noticed in the way the overlying slab is being bent. Domes in slabs commonly show the presence of leaks and then it is time to call your local Orange County Plumber.

Obviously, as soon as a foundation starts to move, all kinds of cosmetic damage can appear. Sometimes, the damage can suggest the presence of a leakage under the foundation. The shape and place of the damage can be an excellent sign.

TIP! Back flow can happen to anyone on municipal water systems, so it's important to prepare your plumbing for it. For example, put a vacuum-breaker fitting on your outdoor faucets to ensure that the water never ends up flowing backwards and causing you a massive headache due to water damage in your home.

On a more lighter note.... Have you heard the Joke about the Plumber and the Doctor?


A pipe burst in a doctor’s house. He called a plumber. The plumber arrived, unpacked his tools, did mysterious plumber-type things for a while, and handed the doctor a bill for $600.

The doctor exclaimed, “This is ridiculous! I don’t even make that much as a doctor!”

The plumber waited for him to finish and quietly said, “Neither did I when I was a doctor.”

Well there you have it.... move over Doctors here come the Plumbers!

Have You Experience a Plumbing Emergency?

Many different plumbing emergencies can arise throughout the course of a house's life. While many are relatively minor in the whole scheme of things, some do require immediate action. A burst water pipe or a malfunctioning water heater has simple mitigating factors.

The plumber that visits your home will be a trained professional with years of experience, and can usually get the problem taken care of fast and effectively. There is no need to complicate the situation when you can quickly call an emergency plumber and have the issue resolved quickly and affordability.

You could try many different 'do it yourself' techniques to unclog the drain, fix the water pipe leak but you likely don't have the proper equipment or skills to do the job properly. , if you do damage to the system while trying to solve the plumbing emergency you could end up needing a more costly repair.

You should call the professionals because they can identify any reasons that the drain clogged in the first place and suggest ways to improve the system as a whole. Calling in an emergency plumber before the situation gets totally out of control is a wise decision that will benefit you in the long run. If you hope and wait to get the clog to resolve it, you could compound the issue and even end up with water all over the kitchen.

If you are very inexperienced or don't have the correct materials or tools to go with it then the best thing to do is call an emergency plumber but if you are going to attempt it yourself then it is very important to make sure the water is off completely. If you are emptying the toilet cistern then it may be a good idea that you have a dry & wet vacuum cleaner to suck up the remaining water left in the toilet cistern. When replacing the back plate & donut washer, it is very important to get the right one or you're most likely going to find yourself with a water and another problem leak on your hands.

The most common water leaks are those on leaking toilets, dripping taps and storage tanks in the loft. Quick tip here: maintain your hot water and central heating correctly.

Bursting pipes and plumbing emergencies, just like any other emergency, often hit you at a time when you least expect it. The most common plumbing emergency that you will likely face in your life is some kind of burst pipe.


Burst pipes within the home are simply the worst thing that can happen to your plumbing system. It is not the cost of the repair of the pipe or even the loss of the water whilst it is fixed, but the sheer amount and cost of the damage water can do.

It is more complex than just connecting pipes to take water away and bring water into your home. If you do not handle any of these areas the correct way, then you might be headed for a catastrophic failure at one point or another and you will need a major repair job done by an emergency plumber.

In a home, many systems have to work together to function efficiently. These systems are interrelated and the moment one fails, the other related systems are also affected. This means that it is important for a homeowner to have knowledge on how these systems work and how they relate with each other.