Slab Leak Detection: How to Identify Slab Leak Symptoms | Arlington, TX
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For residents of Arlington, TX, whose homes have gone through earthquakes, soil erosion, poorly installed plumbing, or simply time, you may find yourself the victim of a problem that can cost you thousands in high utility bills and water damage. Slab leak detection, a term for detecting the leaks developed in the pipes beneath the concrete foundation of a home, can cause a lot of destruction before they’re found. Depending on their location, the leaks can be tricky to find, leaking over the course of months or years, or making their presence known by forcing water up and through your foundation into your home. Typically, the only fix is to hire a plumber to dig into your foundation and fix the pipe that’s leaking directly, but before this leak harms your home in the form of mold or water damage, you can identify these common symptoms before it’s too late.
Low Water Pressure:
Slab leak detection starts with water. With a leak in your pipes, water escapes, decreasing the amount of water the rest of your house gets, identifying when you have low water pressure not only helps in detecting a slab leak, but also if there’s a general issue with your water meter or a leak in a pipe outside of your foundation. You can call an Arlington, TX plumber to come out and install a pressure gauge to better able tell when the water pressure in your home is off due to any number of reasons.
Higher Water Bills:
Even though you don’t need the slab leak detection know-how to know that higher water use leads to a higher water bill, it’s more difficult to determine if certain appliances are the cause of suddenly higher water use instead of a leak in your foundation. You can find leaks in your toilets for example by putting food coloring in the cistern of your toilet, if it moves from the cistern to the bowl, you can better determine that you might not have a slab leak, and your toilet is the culprit for higher water use. You can also identify a leak with your hot water heater. If hot water’s constantly escaping from a point below your foundation, your water heater will be working full time to replace that water, you can tell it’s constantly working by the sound it makes at times it shouldn’t be working. Watch out for toilets or leaky faucets to be the cause of a higher water bill, contact a plumber who specializes in slab leak detection to confirm the existence of a slab leak.
The Sound of Running Water:
If you’re an Arlington, TX home owner that lives in multiple stories, or if your home rests on a grade, the next step in slab leak detection would be to physically listen for the water running out of the leak. To start, temporarily turn off the water to your home, the leak underneath your home should still run water while you listen for it. This can be difficult to do in a home with piping running through the walls or a louder neighborhood, but if you listen, you could be able to find the leak just by listening for a soft spraying sound.
Moisture or Mold Under Carpet or Resting on Concrete:
This exercise in slab leak detection now seeks to find water, and the results of water damage, mildew and mold. Mildews require certain amounts of humidity and moisture to be able to grow effectively, so smelling a dank, musty smell can be the sign of a slab leak you’re looking for. It typically grows underneath carpet, behind dry wall, or in cabinets that meet the ground, dark enclosed locations are its specialty. You can also find water start to force itself up through the foundation, either pooling in spots, making carpet damp, or warping wood paneling.
Cracks in Your Walls:
While slab leak detection shows that fresh water is usually the culprit in water leaking, occasionally sewer lines are the pipes that break in slab leaks. If a sewer pipe breaks, it’s usually the sign of greater stress in your foundation as those pipes are built to be stronger. You can find cracks in your floors or tile, bowed walls, and doors or windows that won’t close all the way. Unfortunately, in these cases this greater pressure costs magnitudes more to fix than a simple plumbing issue.
Identifying the Causes of Slab Leaks:
Arlington, TX, home owner may find that, if they own an older home, they can better identify a slab leak by any of the following occurrences near their home over the years. Soil shifting, either through earthquakes, soil erosion, or the sudden appearance of an underground stream can make slab leak detection easier by researching when soil shifting cases have occurred near your location. Pipe corrosion can occur due to changes in soil chemistry over time, as older houses tend to have copper pipes, you can perform a litmus test on your property to determine if your pipes may have galvanized over the years. Finally, if your foundation rests on gravel or other rocks that could grind against your pipes, you may find this to be the cause of any sudden slab leaks that occur.
In Conclusion:
Arlington, TX, residents may find slab leak detection to be a scary process. Suddenly finding out that you have to pay thousands of dollars in water damages isn’t something a lot of people are ready for out of nowhere. Even with having to face a pricey repair bill, doing your due diligence and performing every day home maintenance is important to prevent even more damage to your home and your property an untended slab leak could cause.