Leak Star Leak Detection Blog - Leak Star

A Carlsbad Area Plumber Performs a Leak Detection May Prevent Cultures for Home Mold Infestations

2/13/2017

An Experienced Plumber Can Perform a Leak Detection and Repair Hidden Water Line Leaks

Sometimes, it’s what you don’t see that can hurt you the most. Such is the case with mold, which can infest your home when leaking water or sewer pipes go undetected. If you’ve been feeling under the weather recently, but can’t quite pinpoint the reason, it’s worth checking to see if your home harbors a mold infestation.

What is Mold?

Before going further, it is important to know what mold is. They are a type of fungi that live both indoors and outdoors. There are thousands of mold species on the planet, and they tend to thrive in damp, humid conditions—just the type of environment a hidden water heater, slab leak or toilet leak fosters. To reproduce and spread, it releases spores that can unleash a variety of harmful symptoms.

Furthermore, certain mold species are also known to produce powerful substances called mycotoxins. According to scientists, common molds are known to produce about 200 different types of mycotoxins.

Have Your Pipes Burst? Take these Precautionary Measures Before Calling a Plumber Serving Encinitas

2/3/2017

An Encinitas Area Plumber Repairs Water Line Leaks Quickly and Efficiently

A burst or leaking pipe is an emergency that every homeowner eventually encounters. This often occurs if your home has older pipe lines or excessive pressure due to a faulty regulator.

Whatever the cause, water line leaks and their consequent repairs can cost you thousands of dollars. But if you know the proper steps to take in the event of a water leak, you can mitigate the damage—and the costs—incurred.

Repiping - When Is It Time?

1/20/2017

Repiping, when is it time to just go ahead and do it? This is a question many homeowners face. Repiping Carlsbad homes is common and at some point it just makes sense to go ahead and do it.

When is it time to just go ahead and consider repiping Encintas homes? Our recommendation to everyone is if you have had to do more than two reroute or single line repiping, than it's time. Or if your home is very old, and you have had at least one major water line leak, repiping is something you really want to consider.

Repiping Ladera Ranch homes is very common. The Ladera Ranch area has significant problems with copper pinhole leaks. Many homeowners have decided with the history of Ladera Ranch that repiping is the way to go after even just one water line leak.

There is also a great need for repiping San Marcos homes. Many of those homes are older and after a single leak it is often determined that repiping the house is a good idea for peace of mind.

Pool Leak Detection

1/11/2017

A pool leak can be a serious problem that should not be ignored. A leak can cause costly damage to your pool and decking. A pool leak can errode the land fill surrounding your pool causing additional cracks throughout. Depending on the proximity to your house, the water leaking from your pool can spread underneath the foundation of your home. An under foundation leak can seep up through cracks causing damage to flooring and walls. This will create a whole new situation and one that could include mold growth in side of your walls or in areas not easily seen,

With the number of pools we have in our area, the need for pool leak detection in Encinitas is common. Finding someone who is skilled at swimming pool, spa or fountain leak detection is important. Using a licensed plumber who has an understanding of plumbing is important.

Noticing an increased water loss may be a clear indicator of a pool leak. If you have an automatic fill, noticing a drop in water levels might be more difficult. However you might notice an increased water bill or a great need for pool chemicals. You may notice cracks in the pool deck indicating a settling or errosion of the ground underneath or there may be unexplainble water in areas anywhere around your pool. These types of indicators can be more costly to fix if not dealt with in a timely manner.

Typical problem areas when it comes to pool leak in Encinitas are, underground plumbing, the structure or shell of the pool, around the lights, the drain, returns, all of these need to be investigated. There may also be leaks in your above ground plumbing.

If you suspect a pool leak, deal with it quickly. You will not only save money in the long run, but you will also be saving water and in Southern California, water conservation is of constant importance. Be water conscious.

Your Plumber Plays a Major Role in Preventing Water Waste in Your Home

12/28/2016

Leak Detection & Water Waste

To get a better understanding of how small leaks can lead to significant water waste, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that the average household leaks more than 10,000 water gallons each year, which is the amount needed to wash a laundry load 270 times. All over the U.S., total household leak reaches 1 trillion gallons every year.

In California, the Department of Water Resources approximated that the state is losing up to 228 billion gallons of water every year, which is more than sufficient to provide the water needs of the whole city of Los Angeles for one year. The direct impact of this kind of water waste is higher water bills for customers, because total water expenditure includes the payment for stolen and lost water too.

Plumbing Re-route or Plumbing Repipe

12/22/2016

If you found this post on Plumbing Re-route or Plumbing Repipe, it's probably because you know you have a plumbing leak. Maybe you have been unfortunate enough to experience more than one. Before even thinking about the potential of a reroute or repipe, give Leak Star a call and we can help you to evaluate your options.

Repair

Repairing your plumbing leak could still be an option. If the timing is bad, finances just aren't available, then certainly a plumbing repair of the specific leaking pipe is always an option. A plumbing repair will get you back up and running quickly and with minimal costs by comparison. If however your plumbing is older or is copper that has been affected by additives in our water or you have experience multiple plumbing leaks in your water pipes or you have an under concrete slab leak.....then really a reroute or repipe is something your must consider.

Re-Route

Reroutes are the best and in our opinion the only option when your plumbing leak is under the slab. There is no need to tear up your flooring and jack hammer a hole in the concrete to fix the leaking pipe. Not only is that costly, destructive and disruptive to your life, but very often when a copper pipe springs a leak, it is very like to spring a leak in the future.

Are re-route will simply bypass the faulty plumbing no matter what the plumbing materials that were used. Damage to drywall can be minimal IF your plumber really understands plumbing from the ground up. Timo owner of Leak Star has spent decades as a plumbing contractor. Timo has actually installed the plumbing in countless San Diego homes.

Repipe

How Keeping Plumbing in Your Home Leak-Free Can Help Reduce Water Rates

12/20/2016

Proper Plumbing for Your Home Will Contribute to Less Wasted WaterPicture

According to the Municipal Water District, water rates in Carlsbad, California, will increase effective January 1, 2017. The new water rate hike may add around $5 a month for the average household, which the Water District attributed to the rising costs of imported water from the Colorado River and Northern California.

Besides the heightened cost of imported water, another possible reason for higher water bills is water waste caused by leaky pipes. Based on the report of the Department of Water Resources of California, the whole state loses around 228 billion water gallons annually due to damaged or eroded pipes. Home owners will benefit from understanding the components of their water rates and the role of timely plumbing repairs in reducing water waste and increasing rates.

Repiping Encinitas & Carlsbad

8/18/2016

Have you experienced more than one slab leak or copper pipe leak in your home? A slab leak repair more than twice, is just to much. If this is you, it is time you consider repiping Encinitas or repiping Carlsbad home. In both San Diego County and Orange County, slab leaks are a major problem due to the additives in our water supply that corrode the inside of your copper pipes.

The thought of repiping your Encinitas or Carlsbad home is likely an overwhelming thought. Let us assure your, Leak Star has decades of repiping experience and can in most cases of a small to average size home have your entire repipe complete in 2-4 days, without the need for you to move out of your home.

You have options which will affect both the cost of repiping your home and the length of time it will take to complete the ripe in Encinitas or Carlsbad.

The first option we prefer, is with the use of PEX pipe. Pex is a plastic pipe as opposed to copper pipe. We prefer PEX for a few reasons. One being the obvious, there is a problem with copper errosion and our water supply. With PEX that isn't a problem.

Repiping with PEX also decreases the time that will be needed to complete your repipe. It also will greatly reduce the damage done to your walls. PEX pipe can be fished through the walls, meaning a smaller hole as an entry and exit point. That equates to decreased drywall repair costs.

You may not feel comfortable with the idea of plastic pipe for various reasons. A concern I had was the thought of having our water standing in plastic pipes all the time. The truth is, most of the water pipes outside leading to your home are plastic. It's hard to escape. For that reason we installed a whole house water filtaration system in our home. The cost of using PEX will cost far less than your second option.

The second option is to repipe with copper pipe again. As mentioned above copper pipe does not stand up well to our current water supply. The chemicals cause the inside of the pipe to pit and errode. Eventually eating a hole all the way through. In the image above you can see the actual corrosion happening on the inside of a pinhole leak. You may get some years without problems, but repiping Ladera Ranch homes which is a very new community in Orange County these types of leaks are so common that there is actually a class action suit undeway.

Another problem with copper is that it is quite valuable today, to the point that there are those who actually steal copper ever y chance they get. Even stripping copper from the inside of electrical lines. Using copper alone will increase the cost of your repipe.

Consider to the extensive damage that will need to be done to your home. Since copper doesn't bend like PEX, more drywall will need to be removed in order to run a rigid pipe through the framing of your home. As you can imagine the length of time needed to complete such a job will be much longer. You may even want to consider finding another place to stay for a bit. The costs of a copper repipe will take a significantly larger chunk out of your wallet.

At Leak Star we are qualified to do both and have done both, including copper repipes before it was realized how extensive the problem with water additives and copper was. We would be happy to give you a bid of doing a repipe with PEX or copper in your home.

Please give us a call, we would be happy to answer your questions:

Leak Star San Diego: 760-519-8466
Leak Star Orange Co: 949-429-9884

Slab Leak Detection & Repair in Ladera Ranch

7/27/2016

Slab Leak Detection Ladera Ranch

The incidence of slab leaks in Ladera Ranch have grown astronomically. Not only slab leaks, but leaks in the walls and coming from the ceiling as well. The damage done to a home or business that has succumbed to a copper pipe water line leak can be tremendous not only to health but to the structure of the building if not dealt with immediately.

So what should you do if you are so unlucky? First of all, call a qualified leak detection specialist like Leak Star. We have decades of experience behind us. We are not only qualified to find your slab leak or water line leak, but we are qualified to make the slab leak repair in Ladera Ranch as well.

You probably have a lot of questions. Leak Star is always happy to educate you as much as you need. The more you know, the better equipped you will be to make an informed decision on the course you should take. The first thing you will need to decide is whether or not to have us do a single line reroute or do a complete repipe in your Ladera Ranch home. You aren't the only one who has had to make this choice.

First let me explain briefly the situation afflicting the Ladera Ranch area. Copper pipe leaks are extremely common due to the addtives in our water supply interacting with the inside of the copper water pipes usually calling what are called pinhole leaks. On occasion full cracks develop. These chemical interactions literally causes the pipe to pit and erode from the inside out until you have a slab leak or copper pipe leak in any other part of your home. This is such a serious problem than homeowners have banded together in a class action suit.

Now for your decision as how to handle this. Most homes in the Ladera Ranch area experience multiple copper pipe leaks which can happen in completely different areas or close in the same length of copper pipe. Sorry to tell you, but the chances that you will experience another slab leak or another leak anywhere elsewhere in your copper line is highly likely, so I will explain to you the difference in a reroute or a repipe.

Cutting out a few inches where the leak has occured would be the least expensive route, but is never our first suggestion. Why? Because as was stated earlier there are without a doubt other errosion problems occuring elsewhere in the copper lines. Often all it takes is for your plumber to be working on the one leak which would including turning off and on the water under pressure and some giggling and shaking of the pipe which can easily dislodge waterever corrosion or sedimate was preventing the pipe from springing a leak in another area as can be seen in the images above.

This was a copper pipe leak reroute pictured which required dryout equipment. Then just a few days later, before we even picked up the dryout equipment anothe leak was spotted in a completely different nearby length of copper pipe. The amount of corrosion can clearly be seen in the second image. This is going on all throughout the copper piping of Ladera Ranch homes and businesses.

We always recommend a reroute around the entire length of copper pipe. Simply put, abandon the leaking run of pipe altogether and reroute a single line from point A to point B. That lenth of pipe should not leak again for possibly decades.

What then of the other copper pipes in the building? Yes, it's true, all of the copper pipes are experiencing this same type of errosion. We see it all the time. We do one reroute and are called back sometimes even within a day for a new leak elsewhere. That is why depending on where you live, like in Ladera Ranch a complete repipe is adviced. More expensive, true, but is absolutely more cost effective. A repipe is basicly done the same way as the reroute, only all of the copper pipe lines are abandoned and rerouted one at a time.

A complete reroute will give you the most long term satisfaction. No more waiting for the next shoe to drop. No more worrying that if you go on vacation you willl come home to find your home flooded. It's done and you can forget about it.

For slab leak detection and slab repair in Ladera Ranch call us at 949-429-9884.
For slab leak detection and slab leak repair in Carlsbad call us at 760-519-8466.

Protect Your Home From Water & Mold Damage When Away

6/20/2016

Plumbing Leak While on Vacation

One of the worst scenarios as a homeowner is to come home from vacation to find that while you were away, at some point your plumbing began leaking. You may find significant water damage to the ceiling, drywall, floors and furniture. This is catastrophic loss. To make matters even worse, If it had been more than 24-48 hrs. since plumbing water started leaking, you will likely be looking at mold damage as well. With each and every day that goes by, the mold will spread further and further. It can even spread to distant locations simply because of increased humidity in the home. All of this made even worse during warmer weather.

Of course immediately call in a qualified plumber who can perform a leak detection and dry out if needed. At Leak Star, we are qualified to make the leak detection, make the plumbing repairs and then clean up the water and mold damage.

Prevention of water and mold damage in the first place is a far better option. It's really simple to do, just turn off the water to your house before you leave for more than just an overnite trip. Even if you live in a condominium or town home, you will have your own water shut off.