Slab Leak Repair | Mansfield, TX
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Usually if you need a plumber for Slab Leak Repair the signs are obvious. For instance, a burst pipe means you need to call a plumber right away as does waking up with no hot water. However, slab leaks are a bit harder to notice. You may need leak repair and not even know it, which can allow the leaks and damage to grow even worse.
Slab leaks are a type of leak that occurs in the concrete slabs that make up a home’s foundation. They are extremely hard to detect since the pipes are buried in the concrete, but they are highly prone to leaks if the circumstances are right. Older homes in particular often find themselves in more need of slab leak repair.
Given these leaks occur in the foundation of your home, if left untreated they can become very costly. It doesn’t take much for a leak to cause significant damage to your foundation. The following are a few warning signs that may tip you off to the fact that you need to call a plumber for help with slab leak repair.
Sudden Rise In Your Water Bill
It is normal for a water bill to fluctuate some, especially during the summer months when you may water your lawn, garden, or landscaping. However, a huge jump in your water bill usually indicates that there is a leak somewhere in your home. If you have carefully inspected all of the pipes in your home that are visible and you can’t find a leak, then you may be in need of slab leak repair. A plumber can take a better look at the plumbing in your slabs with special tools to determine whether this is the case or not.
Your Floor Has Hot Spots- But It’s Not Heated
Heated floors can feel very soothing to the touch, that is why many people pay extra for heated floors. However, if you don’t have heated floors and start feeling hot spots around the ground floor of your home this may be an indication of a slab leak. Most slab leaks start at the hot water line, so if there is a leak in your slab you may feel the concrete start to heat. As a result, your flooring may have hot spots. Obviously these spots are easier to notice on tile and hardwood, but it is possible to feel the hot spots through thin carpeting. Random hot spots that have no explanation are a pretty good indication that you may need slab leak repair.
Low Water Pressure
Any type of leak will cause the water pressure in your home to drop. This is because the escaping water breaks the seal. Outside of just noticing that your water bill is increasing, a drop in water pressure may indicate that you have a slab leak that needs repair. Additionally, if you notice that your water bill is high and you experienced a drop in water pressure at the same time, then you need to call out a plumber in Mansfield, TX for slab repair.
Damaged Flooring
As you might guess, if the water leak in your slab is large enough that it can heat the concrete, it can also damage your foundation or your flooring and you may need to look into slab leak repair. Depending on where the leak is the water may not be able to escape out of the slab, but if it is high enough or left unrepaired long enough, a slab leak can eventually start to eat away at wood flooring. This can quickly get costly and result in needing to install an entirely new underlayment. The carpeting may start to discolor and feel damp before you notice that it is slowly being damaged as well. In addition, the constant exposure to moisture can cause hardwood flooring to warp. Thus, it is vital that if you have suspicions of a slab leak that you call someone for slab leak repair pronto.
Bad Odors from the Floor
The next step in damaged flooring from a slab leak is a persistent bad odor. That constant exposure to moisture will eventually cause mildew and mold to grow which means you may start to notice a very bad odor in your home. Even worse, that moisture might travel into your walls which means mold can start to grow into your drywall as well. Before too long, you could have mold growing in hidden locations all-around your home. While you may not be able to see it, you will be able to smell it. A musty odor that is drifting out of your floor and walls is not something that you should ignore or try to cover up with an air freshener.
Running Water
Outside of all the indications of damage mentioned above, sometimes you can tell you need slab leak repair simply by listening to the water in your home. While you should be aware of all of the above symptoms, the simplest indication may be that you hear the running water in your home when you shouldn’t. Take a minute to turn off all of the fixtures in your home and then go to the lowest level of your home and listen to the floor. If you want, place your ear down on the floor. If you can hear water flowing down into the slab, then you should call for leak repair before too much damage is done.
If you need your slab inspected for leaks, give Benjamin Franklin Slab Leak Detectors a call in Mansfield, TX. Slab leaks are notoriously hard to detect, but the team at Benjamin Franklin has years of experience detecting and practicing slab repair before damage is done to your home. Give them a call today to find out what they can do for you.