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How to Detect a Foundation Slab Leak
Clay and sandy soil types, which contract and expand, make homes particularly vulnerable to slab leaks — something homeowners in Texas will be all-too familiar with. Unless you constantly keep an eye out for signs of a foundation slab leak, these leaks can wreak havoc and force you to carry out extremely costly repairs.
How do you detect a foundation slab leak in the earliest possible stage?
What Is a Foundation Slab Leak?
Many recently-build houses in the United States feature slab foundations — concrete barriers that separate the underlying soil from the home. Water pipes and sewage pipes will both be located underneath these slabs. When these pipes develop leaks, such leaks are referred to as slab leaks.
Leaks beneath a foundation are notoriously difficult to detect. Even if you know that there is a leak soon after it starts, pinpointing the precise location of the leak is altogether more challenging.
The worst-case scenario? Your very foundation could collapse. It doesn’t have to get that far, but this possible outcome should cause homeowners to take any potential foundation slab leak very seriously.
What Causes a Foundation Slab Leak?
Foundation slab leaks have multiple possible causes. Among them are:
- Foundation shifts resulting from expanding and contracting soil cause pipes to become displaces, ultimately leading to a leak.
- Improperly installed pipes and aging pipes are both vulnerable to malfunctions that will give rise to leaks.
- Corrosion is another risk, especially in the case of copper pipes, which are uniquely prone to so-called pinhole leaks.
- Fluctuations in water flow can cause abrasion, leading to leaks.
Do You Have a Foundation Slab Leak? Watch Out for These Warning Signs!
You might have a foundation slab leak if:
- You hear running water underneath your floors even if no appliances that use water are turned on.
- Your water bills have been exorbitantly high recently, and changes in your water use cannot explain this rise. Always look out for a leak when this happens!
- You have wet spots (“puddles”) on your floor and you have no idea why, or parts of your floor are unusually warm (a sign that hot water is leaking).
- Mold is present around your floors, or within carpets.
- Your water pressure is low.
- You also have an aged water heater that is long past its expiration date.
How Do You Detect a Foundation Slab Leak?
A bit of sleuthing can allow almost any homeowner to come to the conclusion that they’re (potentially) dealing with a foundation slab leak. If nearly all of the red flags discussed above sound familiar to you, you’ve already done everything you can to detect a foundation slab leak.
So, where is it?
Identifying the precise location of the foundation slab leak is much harder, even if you regularly have puddles of water on your floor that act as “compasses of doom”. When you’re trying to pinpoint the precise source of a foundation slab leak, you do so with one reason and one reason only — to enable you to have the leak repair in the most non-invasive way possible.
That is why you should call a leak detection company, which will dispatch experienced professionals to your home to detect the source of the foundation slab leak efficiently, quickly, and with minimal damage.