Do I have a Slab Leak?

Do you really feel that there might be a slab leak within your house? Recurring symptoms can include seeing or beginning to feel wet spots on the flooring surfaces. Especially warmer water spots. This can be found by walking in your home barefoot. An additional common warning sign is usually that the water bill is notably higher. This can be a result of the fact that the water pipes are leaking under the pressure originating from the inbound water pipe. As a result the water will leak all day and all night pretty much every single day. That pushes your monthly water costs up dramatically. Another sign which is surprisingly common is that it will sound like your water is running even when the faucets in your home are off.


The difficulty of slab leaks initiated in the Southwestern U . S . in the early 1980’s. During the time home construction crews and developers were developing houses on major concrete slabs. The construction crews would pour a big bare concrete slab foundation after which you build in soft copper pipe even though the cement remained wet. The piping would run the length and width of the cement slab as necessary to allow them to reach wherever they needed to get water throughout the home and as per the floor plan. The pipe would stick up out of the concrete in whatever room or space the floor plan said will require water. As an example, a water line would probably stick up from the foundation at each bathroom, your kitchen and near the laundry hookup, to mention a few.

The problem with the concept of burying soft copper piping into a concrete structure was that the copper was weak. Any kinking, folding, flexing, or nicking would destroy the pipe and eventually develop a pinhole leak. The pipes were commonly damaged through installation and or cementing process. Architects could not benefit from hard copper given that it was forbidden within building codes during the time.


The root cause of these kinds of leaks is negatively impacted soft copper tubing. The broken pipes begin pinhole leaks and become even larger difficulties of slab leaks. What is completely unique pertaining to these slab leaks is the fact they are developed in the cement foundation. A foundation leak, by it’s nature isn’t a quick water leak to resolve.

Repair work options

It’s likely you have 3 options to repair foundation leaks. You are able to epoxy, jackhammer or repipe.

The jackhammer path isn’t common. This can be a hugely troublesome method where the crew comes in and takes out the floor and then jack hammers through the cement to uncover the pipe. A piece of your water pipe around the leak is taken off and upgraded with new pipe. The brand new area of pipe is soldered in position utilizing a plumbing engineer that knows the right way to weld. When the new patch of pipe is installed the water pressure is restored to verify it doesn’t leak. When it finally doesn’t leak, then the concrete floor is remade and the flooring is reassembled.

Epoxy lining

Epoxy coating is a process in which the internal parts of the water lines are cleaned and then sprayed with epoxy. This closes up the damaged spot and stops the leaks. It offers the added benefit of possibly heading off any future leaks as the coating is applied to all of your pipes inside the slab framework. The first problem with using this method is because the coating itself could become a drawback over time. Coming loose after frozen temperature or weight compression may get within the pipes and would cause health issues if ingested.

Copper and PEX Repiping

The most appropriate choice is called copper repiping. Repiping develops when you effectively rebuild all of the water pipes in the house apart from the soft copper piping which is buried in the foundation. A fully new group of pipes is positioned in the house within the walls and ceilings, that simply bypasses the previous slab piping.

Potential issues

The risk of not doing anything concerning your foundation leak is that the property may be moist and contain mold spores. You may have low water pressure and suddenly your water bills might be high. The risk is in not making the repair whatsoever. The risk of the jackhammer is actually comparatively substantial. Possible risk of the jackhammer approach is not that it won’t work. The risk is basically you may need to make it happen repeatedly. The truth is, more often than not should you fix one leak doing this yet another one occurs in just a weeks time. The potential risk of the Epoxy lining solution is the Epoxy alone ends up being a health concern. The truly best procedure is to perform a repiping procedure. Not much risk is linked with copper or PEX repiping.

Price estimates

The generally favored wisdom is that you can expect to pay approximately $1,500 for every modest leak repair service. PEX and Copper repiping delivers a permenant remedy to repairing and preventing active and potential leaks for the lifetime of your household. You should never need to get worried about it again.

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