What Is a Slab Foundation Leak?
Plumbing Experts in Timberwood Discuss Fixing Foundation Leaks
How Foundations Leak
Foundation leaks can come from water both inside and outside a house, but interior slab leaks are often more difficult to find, fix and diagnose. Exterior leaks occur when water seeps into the foundation from the outside. Interior leaks are when a part of the water line or sewage line is leaking on the inside. These types of leaks can waste water and cause extensive damage to a home.
A good plumber will work to discover the causes and can help avoid further damage or even more costly repairs. Learn more below about the waste, damage and methods of fixing a slab foundation leak.
Throwing Water Down the Drain
An average household uses 80-100 gallons of water a day, or about 700 gallons a week. Serious toilet leaks can shoot that up to over 4,000 gallons of water a day. If the leak exists on one of the larger supply lines, that number could be even higher.
The amount of money wasted as a result depends on local rates and the size of the leak, but it can add up fast! In fact, one of the first signs of a slab leak is often a higher than usual water bill for no discernable reason. When left unchecked these leaks can add up to thousands of dollars worth of water.
Property and Structural Damage
Besides wasting water, leaks under a slab can cause some serious damage to a home. If the water leaks for long enough, it can cause the entire house to shift. Water soaks the ground enough that the weight of the house shifts, and can cause severe structural damage and lead to expensive foundation repairs.
Mold can grow if the leak persists, which requires expensive mitigation to be safe. And that’s not including flooring and personal property damage. Recovering from any type of flooding is expensive and bothersome, even before calculating the repair costs.
Service Steps to Fixing Foundation Leaks
The first step a plumber will take when assessing a slab leak is deciphering where the leak is coming from. Sometimes the damage is obvious, but oftentimes they will scope a sewer line to try and find a leak. For water lines, they eliminate piece by piece, working from main lines to smaller lines and comparing hot vs cold lines. Since access to these pipes is under concrete, they will listen to the lines and valves, trying to hear the sound of leakage.
Once discovered, the concrete over the pipes is removed and repairs can be made. Depending on the age and condition of the pipes it may make more sense to simply replace them all and avoid future leaks.
These types of services can be expensive, but they are nowhere near as expensive as the long term damage they can do when unchecked, or the damage caused when they develop into a larger leak that floods. Fixing or preventing a slab leak will always be cheaper in the long run because it avoids potentially expensive foundation repairs.
Trust a Local Plumber
John and Robert Freund started plumbing over 50 years ago and their children still run Primo Plumbing Inc today. With a strong focus on customers, they provide honest feedback about custom options for any given plumbing situation. Primo Plumbing Inc is a full-service plumbing company which provides slab leak repair in Timberwood Park and works on both residential and commercial properties.
