Leak Star Leak Detection Blog - Leak Star

Here Are Some Tips For Slab Leak Detection

4/11/2018

There are all sorts of plumbing problems that can seem to spring up out of nowhere. One particularly unpleasant one is a slab leak. Luckily, there are a few methods of slab leak detection. Keep these tips in mind, and you won’t be caught unawares.

What’s That Sound?

Slab leaks most often occur when one of two things happens: there’s a burst pipe, or the pipes in your foundation have become corroded. One of the most effective remedies before the situation becomes truly dire is to keep your ears open. If a slab leak occurs, water will be running beneath the surface of your home’s foundation, and it makes a noise. If you suspect that a slab leak might be taking place, what you want to do is listen for plumbing noises that are out of the ordinary. You know what the pipes should sound like in your home, and this will be something different, both persistent and unusual. If you suspect a slab leak, shut off your plumbing appliances, and then listen again. If you still hear water running, and if you see water pooling in your basement or elsewhere, contact a plumber immediately.

Why Is My Water Bill So High?

If your water bill is way higher than average, a slab leak might be to blame. This is especially likely if the increase happens suddenly. An abrupt spike in your heating bill can also indicate a slab leak. The reason is that your water heater is working overtime to try and heat the excess water that is coming into your house. If that happens, it likely means that you caught the problem before it got too bad. Again, if this happens, contact a professional.

Cracks In The Floor

Cracks appearing in your floor means that the problem had progressed to the point that it has become severe; it has been happening for a while. If this happens, it has most likely gone well past the point where you can fix it on your own. A competent plumber should be able to locate where the problem has occurred, and they’ll surely be able to offer a solution, but at this juncture, it’s likely to be more expensive than if you caught it early.

Slab leaks are an insidious menace, so remain alert to them. If you see anything like we've mentioned in this article, contact a plumber sooner rather than later, as it’s never in your favor to delay. Get it fixed before it becomes worse, and your master bedroom turns into a swimming pool.

Additional information for homeowners on slab leak detection.

How To Tell If You Need Slab Leak Repair

3/26/2018

Plumbing can be intimidating and confusing. When you find water on the floor, the last thing you want to do is play detective. But you do need to figure out whether you need a slab leak detection Encinitas professional, or whether the problem is something simple that you can DIY (or hire a handyman for). Here’s a few quick ways to tell whether you have a slab leak & need slab leak repair or not.

1. Where Is The Water?

In general, if you find a puddle, it’s usually fairly easy to follow the water back to its source. For example, most people know that if they open up the cupboard under their sink and find that everything is damp, it’s likely the sink pipes that are the problem. So one clue that what you’re dealing with is a slab leak and not a more normal sort of leak is a puddle of water appearing where you can’t explain it. Call for slab leak detection if you notice:

Water welling up between the floorboards
“Wet spots” in your yard, especially close to the foundation
Damp carpet or warm places on your floor that can’t be explained

2. Are You Suddenly A Water Hog?

It pays to know where your water meter is and, if possible, to learn how to read it. Many meters have a “leak indicator” that can give you notice that large amounts of water are being used before you get a sky-high water bill. Keep in mind that to use your water meter to check for leaks, you must first ensure that all water-using appliances in your house. (toilets, showers, washing machines, etc.) are shut off. If you’re sure that no water is running in your house but your meter is still running, you can be confident that you’ve got a leak somewhere, and it’s best to call for help.

3. Have You Had A Slab Leak Before?

Unfortunately, in some cases slab leaks are simply a result of the chemical reaction of the pipes with the surrounding soil or with the water that flows through them. If you’ve had a slab leak in the past and merely replaced or rerouted around the old pipe, then it’s possible that down the line another slab leak will occur, since all of your pipes are generally under the same kinds of chemical strain. If you’ve had a prior slab leak and now are having symptoms of another, you should call a professional right away. (You also may want to consider repiping this time, as it can actually be more cost-efficient than continuing to fix multiple leaks.)

Although finding a puddle of water where it shouldn’t be is never a great experience, knowing how slab leaks differ from more common plumbing problems can help you feel empowered. If you do need a slab leak repaired, we are always at your service and ready to help. Just give us a call, and we’ll get to work to get your home back to normal.

Sources:
What Are Symptoms Of A Slab Leak? - www.answers.com
Slab Leak - http://lancemaxwellplumbing.com/our-services/slab-leaks/

Is Your Home At Risk?

3/22/2018

Many new homeowners--and even a few who have been around the block a few times--don’t understand why anyone would want to have a slab leak detection Carlsbad professional in their corner. They don’t understand how dealing with a slab leak repair is different than dealing with other plumbing problems, and they may underestimate their own risk of a slab leak. The bottom line? If your home sits on a slab versus a traditional foundation, you should read on to see if you’re at risk.

What IS A Slab Leak?

A slab leak occurs when a pipe that’s located under the concrete slab that your home is built on fails, and leaks hot or cold water or even sewage. These leaks are often not immediately apparent, especially if the water seeps away into the dirt around your home.

Why Are Slab Leaks A Problem?

Many people discover a slab leak when they get an astronomical water bill. A leak the size of a nickel can cause the loss of thousands and thousands of gallons of water in a month. Even if you could afford to pay for all that wasted water, the water can do a lot of damage to your home. If it wells upward, it can saturate floors, walls, and cause structural damage. If it seeps into the ground, softening it, it can cause your foundation to shift and even crack, rendering the home unsafe. (This is why a quality slab leak detection company and, if needed, repiping service, are necessary if you suspect a leak.)

What Are My Risks Of A Slab Leak?

Slab leaks are more common in older homes, which sometimes utilize less than ideal construction techniques or old-school piping. If certain types of pipes are exposed to electricity (in the soil or due to electric lines running near them) they can suffer “electrolysis”, which leads to corrosion and eventually a leak. It’s also common for water that’s acidic or has certain treatment chemicals in it to react poorly with certain types of pipe and cause corrosion. Lastly, earthquakes and tremors can simply damage pipes even if they were properly constructed.

What Should I Do If I Suspect A Slab Leak?

The most important thing to do if you suspect you have a slab leak is to call a qualified professional as quickly as possible, in order to minimize damage and expense. If you own an older home that sits on a slab, you’d be well-served to have an experienced professional picked out before you need to call one in an emergency. Don’t get stuck relying on the first plumber you find in the phonebook or with a quick online search--be sure that you’re trusting your precious home to the experts.
If you’re wondering whether you’ve got a slab leak, please give us a call. We’ll find, diagnose, and fix your leak as quickly as possible, so you can get back to enjoying your life.

The Basics of Slab Leaks - Express Plumbing Idaho

Water Damage

3/9/2018

A plumbing leak does not always have to mean catastrophic water damage. Saying that, I can promise you that if you ignore your plumbing leak the water damage will be significant.

An ignored plumbing leak is going to burn a hole in your wallet and your insurance company is likely to deny your claim because you are considered negligent when you are aware of a water or sewer leak and ignore it. They will not be willing to pay for catastrophic damage when it is only catastrophic because you ignored it.

The image to the left is from a home that clearly had some sort of water damage and it had been clearly going on for quite awhile. It turned out that all of the flooring had to be removed. Some of the cabinetry had to be removed as well.

Not only was there water damage that needed to be cleaned up, but mold had become a major problem.

Is It Really Important To Have A Specialist For Slab Leak Repair?

2/26/2018

Many people, when they first realize they have a slab leak, find the situation to be frightening. Because it’s also time-sensitive, they may be tempted to call the first plumber they turn up on an internet search or in the phone book. However, there are good reasons to use a slab leak repair Ladera Ranch specialist. Here’s our take on why you shouldn’t settle for less.

It’s Important To Detect The Slab Leak Accurately

Did you know that it takes both experience and specialized equipment to find where your slab leak is located? In the past, many plumbers searched for the leak by looking for where the water was puddling on the floor, or (if it’s a hot water leak) by feeling for warm spots. However, these methods of finding the leak are not as precise as would be ideal, and modern tools allow a slab leak repair professional to find the location of the leak quickly, minimizing damage to your home. Unless they deal with slab leaks regularly, not all plumbers regularly carry the specialized tools necessary to get the job done right.

It’s Important To Understand Why The Leak Happened

It might seem like a slab leak, while unpleasant, is a fairly simple situation: you find where the leak is, you fix it, and then you move on with your life. While that’s the way it would happen in an ideal world, the unhappy truth is that unless you know why the leak happened in the first place, you may find yourself dealing with more slab leaks at a later date! Leaks can be caused for a number of reasons, including:

Pipe corrosion because of soil chemicals or a reaction between the water and the metal of the pipes.
Ground shifting or pressure problems.
Improper construction.

All of these can be ongoing problems. That’s why it’s important to use a qualified professional who can assess the circumstances around the leak and advise you whether a repair is adequate, or whether repiping service is necessary. Remember: as disruptive as the current leak is, do you really want to go through all that disruption again in the future?

It’s Important To Know Your Plumber Has Done This Before

You’re probably already starting to get the idea that proper slab leak repair can be somewhat counterintuitive. As with most jobs, the person who has the most experience will know how to keep the process streamlined, low-stress, and as non-invasive as possible. As an additional bonus, a local specialist will be able to offer you relevant local expertise. If you have a slab leak, odds are that a slab leak repair professional with experience in your area will have see leaks similar to yours in other homes nearby, and will have insight on your leak’s probable cause.

Although slab leaks require swift action, you should never feel pressured into using a plumber whose qualifications you’re not entirely comfortable with. With three decades of experience, we’re proud to say that we can offer slab leak expertise combined with excellent service and knowledge of your locale. If you’ve got a leak, give us a call and let us help you get your life back to normal as soon as possible.

Sources:
Slab Leaks - www.plumberman.com
How To Fix A Slab Leak - www.angieslist.com

Why A Slab Leak Can Endanger Your Home

2/7/2018

If you’ve just discovered that you’ve got water puddling, and you think it might be a slab leak, it can seem like an overwhelming problem. However, once you’ve found the leak, odds are you need to secure a qualified slab leak detection Carlsbad professional. Delay, or improper fixes from “handyman”-type contractors, can be costly in more ways than one. You want to make the needed slab leak repair as quickly as possible.

1. Your Water Bill

Many people first realize that they might have a slab leak when they get an astronomical water bill. Even if you weren’t worried about the water damaging your home, most people can’t afford the continued high cost of a leak--let alone the environmental impact of wasting hundreds of gallons of water.

2. Structural Damage

Both undetected leaks and improper “handyman”-style fixes can allow water to cause significant damage to the foundation of the home. If not corrected, over time the water can actually weather the concrete enough to cause the foundation to shift, and sometimes even cause parts of the structure to become unstable and in danger of collapse. It’s best, of course, to fix your leak correctly long before things get to this stage, which is why prompt leak detection, repair, and, if necessary, repiping service, are so important.

3. Cosmetic Damage

While structural damage to your home can be frightening to contemplate, slab leaks that well up under your floors can also cause significant amounts of cosmetic damage when they soak carpets and drywall, warp wood floors, and cause unsightly stains. This kind of damage can be discouraging, expensive, and can hamper your ability to enjoy your home. The biggest problem? If you hire an unqualified repairman, you might end up dealing with multiple slab leaks, and the attendant cosmetic damage over time. Nothing is more frustrating than having to repaint a wall again. The best way to make sure that this doesn’t happen is to use a qualified professional the first time, who can advise you whether a small leak repair is adequate, or whether it would be more cost-effective over time to simply repipe the system.

4. Health And Safety Danger

Ultimately, the most important consideration is the your health and that of your family. The biggest health danger with leaks is the growth of mold and mildew. Particularly if any family member has asthma or other breathing problems, mold spores in the air can be quite dangerous. Once again, the best way to prevent this is to begin repairs as rapidly as possible, and make sure that the person repairing your leak knows what they’re doing so that any water damage is halted at an early stage.

While nobody enjoys discovering that they’ve got a slab leak, fixing your leak shouldn’t be a miserable experience. We want you to be confident that your leak is going to be fixed in a timely, professional manner, and we don’t want you to worry about unnecessary damage to your home. As slab leak specialists, it’s always our goal to get your leak repaired in a timely, professional manner, so that you and your home can get back to normal. If you have a slab leak, give us a call! We’ll be glad to help.

Sources:

Why Slab Leaks Can Damage Your Home - www.accurateleak.com
About Us - www.leakstar.com

Epoxy Coating Is It the Right Choice

1/21/2018

Epoxy coating for plumbing failure

Epoxy coating is usually offered as the best solution for failing water pipes by the companies that provide this service. Promises are made that you will have a like new water system. In theory it might sound like a great solution and most of all, it will be so easy. But, epoxy coating, is it the right choice.

Why Epoxy Coating is Not The Best Idea

It is impossible to know how evenly the epoxy coating has been distributed on the inside of your corroding pipes. Have all of the tiny pinholes and weak joints been completely sealed with enough coating? There is no way of knowing withough cutting the pipe and then that would would only tell you what you can see from a visual of about 1 inch.

If you sustain a leak in the future, repairing the leak is very difficult because the epoxy resin used can not take heat. The heat from a torch and soder ruins the integrity of the epoxy coating leaving you vulnerable to future leaks in that area.

Other types of repairs used by epoxy companies called compression fittings or press fit connections can crack surrounding epoxy coating.

The weak pipe is still there and the pressure used in the epoxy lining process can blow out these weak spots and joints.

When encountering these issues a full repipe is often the only solution. These types of issues have created several lawsuits against some epoxy coating companies.

Repiping San Diego

The cost of complete repiping San Diego homes is usually the same or less than epoxy coating. Do yourself a favor and give us a call and let us bid your repiping service at the same time you are getting a quote for epoxy coating.

Very often epoxy coating does not come with much of a warranty. With a full repiping all of your water lines will be brand new with a warranty. With this great investment you will have years of peace of mind.

Source:
http://sagewater.com/whats-new/the-problem-with-epoxy/

Slab Leak Detection and Repair: Should You DIY?

12/20/2017

You’ve got a hot spot or a wet spot on your floor, or your water bill is astronomical. Maybe you’re handy and have done some home repair projects before, or maybe you’re just balking at the prices you’re seeing online for professional slab leak detection and repair jobs, and you’re wondering if you can just fix the problem yourself. Before you go running off to rent a jackhammer or a concrete saw, wait! Here’s a few reasons you may want to re-think the DIY route.

1. Cutting Into The Floor?

You may assume that in order to get to a leak under your floor that you have to pull up carpet or wood flooring, remove subfloor, and cut through the concrete slab. This seems logical enough, but did you know that’s not the recommended method of repair in California? Professional slab repair companies like Leakstar are usually able to repair your leak by simply rerouting your water lines around it. This necessitates only very small holes, usually in drywall. All of our plumbing professionals are trained to minimize the mess and hassle to you, and we complete most single line reroute in a day. You can trust our expertise and training, and keep your floors intact.

2. Repiping?

With certain leaks, repiping service is the method of choice. If you have a slab leak because of old, corroding pipes--or if you’ve had more than one slab leak--it can actually save you money and time to simply abandon the old plumbing and install an entirely new system, overhead and in the walls. Are you confident that you’d be able to determine the cause of your slab leak, and make a choice about whether to repair or reroute your system? We can help you make an educated decision, and do the repiping job.

3. Do You Have The Tools To Find The Leak?

Finding a wet spot or a hot spot and going straight down through the floor is an imprecise, old-fashioned way to find a slab leak (which is why we almost never do it). What if you cut through the floor and the concrete and find that the leak isn’t where you thought it was? Perhaps it’s inches or feet away, and now more floor must be destroyed. Additionally, if you cut into concrete, you may damage intact pipes and cause a worse leak. Why fuss with cutting into the floor at all? Slab leak repair professionals have modern, cutting-edge equipment that enable them to find the precise location of a slab leak and repair it quickly.

4. Keep Backup On Tap

If, despite the risks outlined above, you’re still determined to try to fix a slab leak yourself, it can pay to have a reliable slab leak repair professional picked out in advance. If you shut your water off and start your repair only to find out that the job is more difficult than you thought it would be, you don’t want to be stuck with no water and no idea what to do next. Keep your plumber’s number close at hand!

What’s the bottom line? A slab leak is a complex, significant plumbing problem. We just can’t recommend that most folks try to repair it themselves. There’s no replacement for the advanced equipment, extensive training, and experience that our slab leak repair professionals bring to the job. We can usually get your situation back to normal in a matter of days (i.e. one day for a single line reroute, 3-5 days for a slab leak or whole house repiping service), and our prices are very competitive. When calculating what a job will cost, remember to include the expense of renting equipment and spending vacation days doing plumbing. Why not let us put our experience and expertise to work for you? Before you try DIY, give us a call today.

Source:
Slab Leaks - www.plumberman.com

When Is It Time To Consider Repiping Your Home

12/5/2017

Repiping Carlsbad & Repiping Encinitas

We hear this question often, when is it time to consider repiping your home. It's really not that difficult of a decision is you consider the cost options. You may be considering repiping Carlsbad homes, or repiping Encinitas homes. You probably came to this consideration because you have already experienced at least one water line leak, however you are likely on your 3rd of 4th water leak.

Let's consider the cost of repairing a single line water leak under the slab also known as a slab leak. If you use Leak Star Advanced Leak Detection repiping service, a single line reroute will cost you $1750 flat rate. That would include the cost of your leak detection. What often happens is that one line is abandoned and rerouted and another separate copper water line springs a leak. It could for instance be the hot water that was fixed the first time, now it's the cold water line either right next to the hot water or in an entirely different location of the house. It could be in the wall or it could be another slab leak.

Once copper pipes start springing leaks it's genreally just a matter of time before more leaks appear. Copper pipes can corrode over time or as is very often the problem in our area, the additives in our municipal water meant to protect us, corrode the inside of the copper pipes. There is nothing that we can really control.

Is Finding Your Slab Leak Becoming a Headache?

11/23/2017

If you don't find a qualified slab leak detection specialist who can properly locate your slab leak the first time, you can end up with a real landlord or homeowners headache. There are countless water lines running under the concrete slab and narrowing down the specific pipe that is leaking takes skill.

We hear nightmare stories of slab leak detection in Encinitas and slab leak detection in Carlsbad where the home owners floors were demolished when the leak detection company they chose used a jackhammer to locate the leak and then fix it. Please stop them right now if this is what you have been told is necessary in order to repair your slab leak. Talk about a headache. Imagine the sound of a jackhammer pounding away at the concrete foundation in the middle of your kitchen or living room.

At Leak Star Advanced Leak Detection we never jack hammer floors because there is absolutely no need to do so. Whether you are looking for slab leak detection in San Marcos, Encintias or Carlsbad our leak detection routine is the same. We use highly sensitive sound equipment, infrared cameras and years of knowledge to locate your slab leak without even touching your beautiful floors.

Once your under concrete slab leak has been located, we simply abandon and bypass the defective water line, rerouting through either your attic or through some carefully cut smaller sections of drywall which are easily repaired. The repipe is usually completed in one day and there really is no reason to leave your home unless you are unsually sensitive to a small amount of dust.

If you still have questions, please feel free to give us a call. We would be happy to set your mind at ease. 760-519-8466