Slab Leak Detection: 5 Signs You Have A Slab Leak | Mansfield, Texas
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In Mansfield, TX, most homes are built on a slab foundation, and that means there are no basements to provide separate the ground floor and the earth. A big disadvantage of this kind of setup is that the plumbing runs directly underneath the home.
If a slab leak occurs, there’s nothing to stop water from getting straight into the house. From a plumbing and interior perspective, this is something you really want to avoid.
Once that happens, it’s often a pain to have a contractor fix the issue when it has gotten that severe. It’s way more expensive than having it fixed at the earliest point you can tell you’ve got a plumbing problem. And those costs will pile onto the ones for fixing electronics and furniture and removing mold.
Luckily, you can tell before it ever gets that far. There are five slab leak detection tips that you can rely on to let you know if something isn’t right.
Here they are.
1. Higher than Usual Water Bill
Something you should always pay attention to is the water bill. And you should always have a rough estimate of where your water bill comes in at when the next payment is due. Not only can this help with organizing your finances, but it can help you know if you have a plumbing problem.
One of the best slab leak detection activities is to check if your water bill is getting higher than usual, without any rise in your household’s water usage to make sense of it. That’s often the first tell.
Do remember that this isn’t a definitive sign by itself, however. You’ll definitely want to have it looked at by a professional, but don’t be quick to assume that it’s certainly a slab leak. Instead, watch out for other signs before reaching that conclusion.
Other plumbing problems may be to blame. A leaky faucet, for one, can cause a dramatic increase in the water bill.
2. Hotspots on the Floor
Certain parts of a room that are warmer than others can also point to a slab leak in your home. And this slab leak detection method tends to be among the more accurate ones.
If a slab leak occurs in a hot water line, it will start causing hot water to gather around a localized location. The water won’t lose its heat, since it will be constantly fed into by the leak. That heat will start transferring onto the floor and surrounding areas, causing the floor to feel warm too, along with the part of the room.
You can use this slab leak detection method for entire rooms within the house, too, since sometimes the heat can spread across an entire room, making it much warmer than other rooms in the house.
This is one to be concerned about since it means the plumbing components near the leak are also receiving the heat, which can cause them to expand, and that will eventually cause them to crack. When that happens. more leaks will occur.
It’s best to call a professional as soon as you notice this slab leak sign, since it means the issue is quite severe and poses a risk to other plumbing parts, making the potential cost of repair quite high if it’s left unfixed for too long.
3. Look for Cracks along Walls and the Ceiling
Thin cracks occur naturally because of settling, so it’s possible that you’ll have some on your walls already if you haven’t done any minor renovations in several months or so. But if they start showing up at a quick rate, that can point to a problem with the plumbing.
Look for fresh cracks along both the walls and ceilings, and check if they seem clustered around one area. If you find any, it likely means that you have a slab leak that needs fixing.
This slab leak detection sign shows you that the plumbing issue is doing damage to your walls, which can also mount the repair costs since you’ll be needing to have the walls fixed.
It’s another sign that means you have to call a professional immediately since the damage to the walls only gets worse with time.
4. Check the Outside of Your Home
If you do have a slab leak, all the water will be puddling up somewhere. So a slab leak detection method that’s sure to let you know if you do have this problem is looking for signs that there’s a lot of water gathering up where you shouldn’t expect to find any when your plumbing system is in good order.
The signs to look for are standing water, mud or moss. Those are usually the biggest pointers that there’s something not quite right with your plumbing.
Now, this sign won’t provide much insight into the situation during the rainy season, since rainwater can easily trickle to different parts of your home’s exterior.
Likewise, if you’ve been irrigating or overwatering in the areas where you find these signs, that obviously means you can’t really bank on this slab leak detection method alone to tell you if that’s the plumbing problem you’ve got, or if you have any at all.
5. Listen for Continually Running Water
Lastly, silence all your electrical devices or anything else that makes a sound in your home. This is a difficult slab leak detection sign to pick up if there’s any noise, since the running water isn’t very audible until you get close to the source.
Walk around your Mansfield, TX, home, paying attention to the sound of running water, getting your ear near the floor at times. As you get closer, if you do have this issue, the sound will get slowly easier to hear.
Any confirmation of this slab leak detection sign means you need to call a plumber. If the sound is loud-ish, it likely means the leak is severe.
These five tips, especially when used together, can show you whether or not you have a slab leak, However, even if you confirm one serious one or a few, get it checked out just to be safe.
Call us at Slableak.com to have your slab leak fixed and your plumbing’s perfect condition restored.