Soil shift is the main cause of slab leaks in North Texas.
Sponsored by Berkeys Air Conditioning and Plumbing
Written by Jeff Sims, Plumbing Service Manager, Berkeys
Nearly all homesbrin Colleyville, Grapevine, Southlake and throughoutbrthe Dallas / Fort Worth area are built on concrete slabsbrbecause the clay soil is too unstable for basements. That reduces thebrstructural risk, but doesn’t eliminate it. There are a number of plumbing pipesbrthat will run underneath that slab, and in some cases, the plumbing is embeddedbrin your foundation slab. If one of these pipes breaks or cracks, you will have abrslab leak. The word “Slab Leak” is an industry and insurance term used tobrdescribe a leak in one of the water lines running underneath your house.
What causes a Slab Leak?
There are a number of factors thatbrcan cause a leak, including poorly installed plumbing pipes, old pipes or usebrof too much soldering flux, but here in North Texas the main cause is soilbrshift. The ground here is, for the most part clay, hence the reason we don’tbrhave many basements. This causes the foundation of your home to shift slightlybrover its lifetime. Don’t worry, your house isn’t going to slide off the hillbrsince these soil shifts are very minor. However, when it comes to the plumbingbrunderneath your house, this shifting can cause pipes to bend and / or crackbrresulting in a leak.
Why early leak detection is so important
A slow leak underneath your housebrcan cause the soil to shift more, making the leak worse. In severe cases, thebrslab and flooring can erupt and flood rooms, ruining carpets, furniture andbrappliances. When that happens, foundation repair is the next step and also verybrexpensive. Also, leaking water lines underneath the slab can erode the soil andbrcause the foundation to cave in. When the slab fails, its weight breaks thebrplumbing lines beneath, causing a rush of water into the home.
So you can see how detecting a leakbrearly is essential to help avoid costly repair bills later on. How do you knowbrwhen to call a licensed plumbing professionalto come to your home and perform a slab leak test?
- Your water bill increases for no apparent reason
- You hear the sound of water running when no taps arebr open
- You see foundation cracks
- Uneven plant growth around foundation
- There is a visible shift in the soil around your home
- You have warm spots on slab floors
- If you have a hardwood floor, you see dark spots, orbr notice wet spots in your carpet (assuming you don’t have pets that aren’tbr house-trained)
- You smell mildew or moldy odors coming from floors orbr walls
Remember, even a small leak can wreakbrhavoc on your house. A leak the size of a pinhead, also known as a pinhole leakbrcan waste roughly 360,000 gallons of water per year. That’s enough to fillbr12,000 bathtubs!
How Slab Leak Detection works
Leak detection is done in a seriesbrof steps involving visual inspections, electronic listening equipment andbrtracing your plumbing lines.
Visual Inspection
A licensed plumbing technician willbrcarefully inspect all floors and exposed concrete in your home to check forbrevidence of a leak. This includes looking for cracks in the foundation,brdiscolored hardwood floors or wet spots in your carpet. In addition, thebrtechnician will also ask you a series of questions to make sure any otherbrcauses can be eliminated, such as roof leaks, pets, or a coolant leak from yourbrcar (in the garage).
Electronic Listening Equipment
At Berkeys we usebrspecial listening equipment that is tuned to “hear” water leaks. We place thebrequipment on the floor or to the walls to exactly pin point where a leak maybrhave occurred.
Line Tracing
To better understand where waterbrlines are running underneath your home, we use a transmitter and receiverbrsystem to trace copper lines. This helps save time in matching a potential leakbrwith where water lines are running under your foundation.
Fixing the leak
Depending on where the leak hasbroccurred, we isolate the area by drilling directly into the concrete orbrexposing the section of faulty plumbing in your wall. The section of plumbingbrthat is leaking is cut out and replaced, while we also verify that no furtherbrleakage will occur. If we have to drill out a portion of your slab, we fill thebrarea back in with new concrete and mark the repair location for futurebrreference.
About Berkeys
Berkeys is an award winning homebrservice company, providing quality plumbing, air conditioning, and heatingbrservices to homeowners in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex for over 35 years.
All of our technicians, arebrbackground-checked, drug tested and have passed rigorous state examinations andbrare licensed by the State of Texas; they understand the complexity of statebrcodes all the way down to local requirements.
Berkeys maintains an A+ rating withbrthe Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has led the field in area newspapers’brreaders’ favorite polls.
For more information about Berkeys,brvisit www.berkeys.com or call 877-BERKEYS