Slab Leak Detection and Your Home

Slab leaks usually occur when a problem exists with plumbing pipes beneath your concrete slabs. Slab leaks normally occur on two places namely the incoming water line or the sanitary sewer line.

When it happens, it is important to know the causes of slab leak that will help us understand how to prevent and detect a leakage. The four most common causes of slab leak in residential areas is poor workmanship, water chemistry, water velocity or pressure and an unstable substructure. All this reasons can attribute to a slab leak in your home that can in turn become dangerous if not addressed early enough.

Slab leak detection can sometimes be quite difficult. There are a few ways through which you can be able to know if a leak has happened under the concrete slab. If you get to hear some water noises under the concrete slab, increased humidity beneath your carpeting and having higher than usual water bills then a leakage may have occurred under the concrete. If you think that there is a water leakage beneath the slab or concrete building foundation, then you ought to do a water measurement. Make sure that you find the meter and ensure that water for the entire building is switched off. Ensure that there are no activities that use water that are ongoing. Such things such as toilets running, washing machines working and sprinklers watering the yard should not be seen. The water meter should not move at the least if there is no leakage in the building. Take snapshots of your water meter at different intervals and see whether the numbers will change. If the numbers hardly move then there is no water leakage in your building but if a change is seen then there may be a leak or two somewhere in the building.

Slab leak detection is however a technical complicated process that experts in the field are trained to do. It would only be wise to contact an expert to help you out if any of the aforementioned symptoms are witnessed in your house. Directly taking out the concrete slabs apart to check the leaks can be costly and very wasteful. Make sure that your contractors have the best tools to help detect leakage under concrete without having to excavate the entire foundation. It would even be better if the contractor can guarantee you that once the slab is excavated they will find the leak. This way, you can be financially protected from incompetent contractors. Make sure that you understand the effect of electrolysis before assembling pipes under the slab if you are in the process of building your home.

Slab leaks usually occur when a problem exists with plumbing pipes beneath your concrete slabs. Slab leaks normally occur on two places namely the incoming water line or the sanitary sewer line. It is important to know the causes of slab leak that will help us understand how to prevent and detect a leakage when it happens. The four most common causes of slab leak in residential areas is poor workmanship, water chemistry, water velocity or pressure and an unstable substructure. For more information on slab leak detection and foundation repairs please visit http://www.abacusplumbing.net/plumbing/slab-leak-detection/.