A slab leak is a leak that occurs underneath or within your home’s foundation, and is a very serious problem. Cracks, even minor ones, in any of your pipes underneath your foundation can cause severe water damage to your property. In addition to causing an increase in your water bills, damage from a slab leak can affect both the outside and inside of your property.
Brooks Plumbing Co. Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Slab Leaks’
Why are Slab Leaks so Damaging?
Monday, March 21st, 2016How to Tell if You Have a Slab Leak
Monday, September 7th, 2015Slab leaks are simple leaks that occur in pipes either buried beneath your home or actually embedded in the foundation itself. As such, they are extremely difficult to solve, which makes them one of the toughest problems plumbers have to face. They’re also equally difficult to detect, which means that they can cause a lot of damage before a homeowner finally spots them and summons professional help. No one likes dealing with a slab leak, but with a trained professional here in Olympia, WA, you can handle it as expediently as possible. Here’s a few ways to tell if you have a slab leak.
What Are Slab Leaks and What Can I Do about Them?
Monday, July 21st, 2014“Slab leaks” sound scary, and they can be—somewhat. A slab leak is the name that plumbers use to describe leaks in pipes that occur under concrete or stone slabs, principally in the water lines that run under the concrete foundations of a house. Slab leaks occur because of shifting in the ground or aging pipes, and once they start they can be difficult to locate and repair.
So what can you do about them? Simple: nothing.
But wait… before you throw up your hands and give up, we need to elaborate. There’s nothing you can do personally to fix a slab leak. You lack the tools and experience (unless you are a professional plumber) to access the leak under the hard surface and repair it. However, you can call Brooks Plumbing in Olympia, WA and have our specialists in slab leak repair take care of the problem.
More about Slab Leaks
You may be curious as to how professionals handle leaks that occur down inside stone or concrete, and how they even know where to look to find them.
The first thing that slab leak repair technicians do is use special listening equipment, usually small discs that operate similar to stethoscopes, to find the sound of water escaping through the stone. If they need to narrow down the search area further, they can use pressure scanners or send video camera equipment on a long fiber-optic line down into the plumbing system to pinpoint the exact leak location.
Once they’ve done this and they know the location and the extent of the leak, the plumbers will know how best to address the problem. The most common method is to use a jackhammer excavate the area above the pipe and then seal it. However, for smaller leaks, the plumbers can sometimes use non-intrusive methods to fix the problem. If leaks are caught soon enough, plumbers will usually be able to repair the problem with minimal excavating.
Keep a close look-out for signs of slab leaks so you can call for plumbing help as soon as possible: elevated water bills, dampness in the basement, cracks appearing along across concrete, unexplained water pools, the growth of mold and mildew. If any of these indications show up, you may have a slave leak and you should call for assistance from professional plumbers as soon as possible.
Brooks Plumbing has helped homeowners with slab leaks in Olympia, WA, including other types of plumbing problems since 1994. You can trust to our skill and professionalism to get the job you need done fast and right. “Quality in Everything We Do” is our motto, and we live by it!
Plumber’s Guide: Slab Leaks and the Damage They Cause
Monday, August 6th, 2012If you are a Lacey homeowner and you don’t know what a slab leak is, consider yourself lucky. There are few problems that your home can suffer from that are more inconvenient and worrisome than a slab leak. At Brooks Plumbing we believe that the best way for homeowners to be prepared for problems is to keep themselves informed. With that in mind, here is some information about slab leaks and the potential damage they can inflict on your home.
Slab leaks are extremely problematic due to the fact that they are notoriously difficult to detect. They occur beneath the concrete foundation of your home and can cause serious structural damage. Because of their location beneath your home you will not see a slab leak, but there are some warning signs that you can look for to identify a slab leak. Indicators include:
- Unexplained spikes in your water bill
- Unusually low water pressure
- Sounds of running water with no identifiable source
- Dampness in carpeting or water stains at base of walls
If you are experiencing any of these problems it is important that you contact a professional plumber immediately. By the time you suspect a slab leak it may have been there for some time, and the damage it can cause will only get worse. Slab leaks can occur in your sewer line or potable water line. The potable water line can cause even more damage as the water is pressurized.
Because this type of leak occurs beneath concrete is important to pinpoint the location before any work is performed. You don’t want to tear up the entire floor of your home to find the source of your leak. A professional Lacey plumber will utilize special equipment as well as their training and experience to make the repair process as painless as possible. If you have any reason to suspect a slab leak in your Olympia area home, call Brooks Plumbing Company immediately. We’ll do everything possible to ensure that the structural integrity of your home is not compromised by the slab leak.
