Homes may be founded upon different base forms. Some homes are built on a basement, some on a crawl space. Lots of homes are constructed on a concrete slab in Delaware County and several other areas. A concrete slab base is unusual in that the plumbing pipes are directly placed beneath the concrete slab in the earth. The flooring you are sitting on is placed directly above the concrete slab, with the pipes just below.
If your house is on a basement or crawl room, if you create a leak, you can get to the pipes relatively quickly. When you are building your house on a concrete slab, you can not get to the pipes without breaking up the foundation. In reality, you can not even be able to say if you have a leak very quickly. You can however begin to note some unusual symptoms in your home that are signs of a slab leak. Using these seven tips for slab leak detection to help you diagnose a slab leak in your home.
- Check out puddling in your patio. If you have a concrete patio attached to your building, watch out on the patio for puddles or wet spots. If you have a slab leak, the water can run out onto the attached patio from the concrete slab. This could be an sign of a slab leak if you find wet spots on the patio that don't go away or keep coming back (even though it isn't raining).
- Look for water coming from the walls or under the cabinets. The problem with a slab leak is there really is no place to drain the leak into. As a result, the leak may end up passing through the home's walls or running out from under the cabinets.
- Checks water temperature. If you find water that leaks from somewhere in your house, feel it to test your temperature. Understanding whether the leaking water is hot or cold will help you identify its source.
- Feel down on the floor for hot spots. Do you find a warm spot in the floor when you are walking barefoot around the house? If so, that can suggest a slab leak from the hot water pipes. You can also feel a dry, humid spot in the floor in some cases. These are clear indicators of slab leakage.
- Beware of your water heater. Will your water heater still run? When your water heater heats cold water excessively, this can mean you have a hot water leak somewhere in your house.
- Read your meter. Check your water meter and mark the meter or write down the numbers for your current use. Wait for an hour, and use no water at all during that time. (Sure you don't flush your toilet, use your faucet or run your icemaker.) Then test the meter again. If the meter has changed, then you don't know about water flowing anywhere in your house – perhaps, a slab leak.
- Check your water bill. Has your water bill gone up substantially from the months before? If your water bill has gone up dramatically and you don't think you've really used more water than normal, somewhere you may have a leak that triggers that.
Call HVAC Repair Company Pro if you think you might need a slab-leak repair. We can find slab leaks for you and quickly patch them.