Slab Leak Repair in Lake Oswego

A slab leak usually shows up as a group of clues: a warm patch of floor, a water meter that keeps moving when nothing is on, a sudden jump in your water bill, or damp flooring with no clear source. One clue alone can have a simpler cause, like a running toilet. Two or three together are a strong reason to have the line checked before anyone cuts into concrete.

A slab leak is hard to spot because the pipe is buried under concrete. You won't see a drip or a puddle under a sink. You'll notice side effects instead, and most of them are easy to brush off at first.

• A warm or hot spot on the floor. If a hot water line is leaking under the slab, the escaping water can heat the concrete above it. Bare feet often find this first, on tile or in a hallway.
• A water bill that jumps for no reason. Your habits didn't change, but the bill did. Water leaking under the house runs all day and night, so it adds up fast.
• The sound of running water when everything is off. A faint hiss or rush in a wall or floor, often easier to hear late at night when the house is quiet.
• Damp carpet, swelling wood floors or lifting tile. Water pushes up through the slab and soaks into whatever sits on top of it.
• A musty smell or mildew near the base of walls. Trapped moisture under flooring can grow mold before you ever see water.
• Lower water pressure at your fixtures. Water leaving the line through a crack means less of it reaches your faucets and shower.
• A water heater that seems to run all the time. If hot water is leaking out, the heater keeps refilling and reheating to keep up.

There's a simple check you can do yourself. Turn off every faucet, appliance and irrigation line in the house. Then look at your water meter and note where the dial or low flow indicator sits. Wait about 30 minutes without using any water, then look again. If it moved, water is going somewhere. That doesn't tell you it's under the slab, but it tells you there's a leak worth finding.

This is where a lot of people jump ahead. A moving meter or a high bill can also come from a running toilet, a dripping outdoor spigot, or a leak in the line between the meter and the house. A warm floor can sometimes be radiant heat or a duct, not a pipe. Those problems cost far less to fix than anything involving concrete, so they're worth ruling out first. A toilet that won't stop running, for example, is a quick toilet repair, not a slab job.

So treat these signs as a reason to find out, not proof of the worst case. One clue by itself is often something small. A warm floor plus a moving meter plus a higher bill is a different story. That combination is a strong reason to have the leak located before any decision about breaking concrete, rerouting a line or repiping gets made.

Finding the leak comes first, and it's the step that saves you the most money. A slab is a big piece of concrete. If the leak's spot is a guess, the hole gets bigger, the patch gets bigger, and so does the bill. When the spot is known to within a foot or two, the repair stays small.

Locating a leak under concrete usually happens in three steps:

• Confirm which line is leaking. The hot and cold sides of the system can be closed off and pressure tested one at a time. That tells you whether it's the hot line, the cold line or both, and it rules out the fixtures.
• Trace where the pipe runs. Pipes under a slab don't always take the path you'd expect. Mapping the route keeps the search on the right part of the floor.
• Pinpoint the spot. Water escaping a pressurized pipe makes a sound that listening gear can pick up through concrete. On a hot line, a thermal camera can often show the warm area where water is spreading.

Once the leak is found, there are three main ways to fix it. The right one depends on where the leak is, how old the pipe is, and whether this is the first leak or one of several.

Spot repair through the slab. The floor covering is pulled back right over the leak, and a small section of concrete is cut out. The damaged piece of pipe is replaced, then the hole is filled and the floor is put back. This makes sense when the pipe is in good shape overall and the leak sits in an easy spot, like a hallway or under tile you can match.

Rerouting the line. Instead of going under the concrete, the leaking section is shut off and left in place. A new line is run through the walls, attic or crawl space to the same fixtures. This is often the better choice when the leak sits under cabinets or expensive flooring, or when breaking the slab would cause more damage than it fixes.

Repiping. If the pipes are old, worn thin, or have already leaked more than once, patching one spot can just move the problem a few feet down the line. Replacing the supply lines in that part of the house, or the whole house, ends the cycle. We cover that on our repiping page.

Here's a simple way to think about it. Picture a single pinhole leak under the laundry room floor of a house where the pipes look sound. A small cut and patch is usually the cleanest fix. Now picture a second leak two years later, under the kitchen island. At that point, rerouting or repiping deserves a serious look, even if it costs more today.

Whichever way the repair goes, the job isn't done until the line is tested again under pressure and the meter stays still with everything off. That's how you know the leak you paid to fix is fixed, and that there isn't a second one hiding nearby.

Before anyone starts cutting, you should know three things: which line is leaking, where the leak is, and why one repair option makes more sense than the others for your house. Our team holds Oregon CCB License #257405, and we're glad to walk you through those answers in plain language so the choice is yours.

Not every slab leak is an emergency. A small leak can sit under a floor for weeks and only show up on your bill. Others push water into your home fast enough to ruin flooring in a day. The question to ask isn't "Do I have a leak?" It's "How fast is this getting worse?"

Call right away if you notice any of these:

• Water coming up through the floor. Standing water, wet grout lines that keep spreading, or carpet that squishes when you step on it means a lot of water is escaping, not a slow drip.
• A warm spot that's getting bigger or hotter. That points to a hot water line losing water steadily. It also means your water heater is working nonstop to keep up.
• A sudden drop in water pressure throughout the house. A big loss in pressure can mean the break is getting larger.
• Water near outlets, baseboard wiring or your electrical panel. At that point it's a safety problem, not just a plumbing one.
• Loud rushing water when every fixture is off. A faint hiss is one thing. A steady rush you can hear from across the room is another.

If you're seeing one of these and you know where your main shutoff valve is, closing it stops water from reaching the leak while you get help. You'll be without water for a while, but you'll also stop the damage from spreading.

Other signs are real, but they give you time to plan:

• A water bill that's crept up over a month or two, with no wet spots anywhere.
• A meter that moves slowly during the shutoff test, while your floors stay dry.
• A faint warm area that hasn't changed in size or temperature.
• A musty smell near one wall, with no visible water.

With these, it makes sense to book a visit for the next few days rather than calling late at night. You'll want the leak found soon, since water under a slab never takes a break and your bill keeps adding up. A slow leak gives you room to choose a time that works, run the toilet and irrigation checks first, and gather your last few water bills so the pattern is easy to see.

Here's a quick way to picture the difference. Say your bill went up by a similar amount two months in a row, and the meter creeps a little during the test. That's a scheduling call. Now say you walk into the kitchen in the morning and the tile near the island is wet around the edges, and the spot is bigger by dinner. That one shouldn't wait.

If you can't tell which group you're in, call and describe what you're seeing. Tell us where the warm or wet spot is, whether it's changing, and what the meter did. That's usually enough to sort out whether you need help now or can plan a visit. Our emergency plumbing covers major leaks from 7 AM to 11 PM, seven days a week.

☎ Call now

Slab leak repair is one of the many ways we provide plumbing help across Lake Oswego, and if your meter keeps moving with every fixture off you can book a slab leak check.