A slab leak is almost always a break in any pipe that runs beneath the concrete foundation of your house or office building. Should the pipe suffer a rupture or crack, then the water proceeds to seep into the ground and effectively wreak havoc on to your precious home’s very foundation. Slab leaks can occur in either sewerage or even freshwater lines.

The problem with slab leaks is that, if left unchecked or unrepaired, they have the potential to cause substantial and costly damage, in fact, this is precisely why early detection is so critical. And as such, to catch this problem from the onset, it is advisable for all homeowners whose properties have concrete foundations to be well aware of the warning signs that effectively indicate this type of leakage related problem.

The telltale indications of a ‘slab leak’

Your archetypical slab leak can quite easily resemble a myriad of other plumbing related problems. That is why this particular issue is difficult to diagnose in the first place.

However, with due diligence and a certain amount of care and foresight, it can easily be handled effectively before any lasting damage is done to your residence. Following are just some of the symptoms that are relatively common to most such slab leaks:

The water bills are running unusually high

A really high water bill is a common indicator of the rather worrisome fact that there is at least one irksome water leak located on your property. However, it cannot signify the fact that the offending leak ‘may’ actually be located directly beneath the actual foundation itself.

The best way to find out would be to check all the faucets and taps as well as the exposed pipes that are located immediately beneath all the sinks in your home for the real source of your water leak.

On the other hand, should your water bills be sky high then it is a telltale symptom of the fact that you are losing a whole lot of water indeed. If there are no clearly visible leaks beneath the sinks, then the odds are that you have an unseen leak deep within the foundations of your property.

The revealing signs of running water

The thing about running water is that it is inherently noisy in nature. Whenever you hear the sound of running water rushing though the pipes but there are no faucets or taps into which it is running.

That is all the water outlets, showers, flush tanks etc. are not being used at all, then it is very likely that the water is running right though the pipes, into the leak.

Mysterious wet or spots on any particular part of the floor

If warm water is constantly leaking directly from a pipe that is located beneath the foundation itself, odds are that it can easily create certain mysterious ‘warm spots’. Should the leak be really bad, even small puddles may form on the floor of the house.

Carpet mold or mildew

Damp and smelly carpets that just seem to grow molds and rot away for no apparent reason are again a symptom of leaky foundations. As a matter of fact, once the foundation becomes completely saturated, the moisture will inevitable find a way by rising inexorably upwards, till it has reached your carpet.

Even if the carpet does not feel wet and squishy when you walk on it, nevertheless the part facing the floor has enough moisture seeped in, to allow the rot to breakthrough on to the upwards facing portion of the carpet as well. This occurs when the foundation becomes saturated and moisture begins to leak into the house.

The damage that a slab leak can wrack should it go undetected

If there is plenty of soil beneath the foundation of your home, all the seeping water can potentially Leading to moving or shifting of the ground beneath the house. This in turn, causes really serious damage to the foundations of the property.

Should the cracking, buckling, and other related problems become severe enough, they may well lead to cosmetic and even structural damage as well. And once the leak rises above its subterranean level, then it is quite likely to enter your home and damage or even destroy your furnishings and fixtures.

Different methods for repairing slab leaks

There are many methods and techniques for repairing just such slab leaks, However, some may prove to be more invasive then others and which method to use depends entirely on the location as well as the type of the leak. Some of the more common ones include the following:

Ripping open the foundations so as to fix the pipes

This is by far and large, the most common method of fixing slab leaks. But unfortunately, it is also very a destructive and high cost alternative.

Coating the pipes

This treatment is generally used only in the case of those pipes that cannot easily or cost-effectively be repaired by the relatively complex expedient of opening up the foundation of the house itself.

Such leaking pipes are subsequently fixed from within, through the use of a high quality and long lasting epoxy water pipe coating.

Re-piping the entire water line network of the house

This is a very drastic step indeed, since it requires a lot of invasive work all over the house. This is why it is generally used only in very old properties that have accumulated multiple slab leaks over the years.

Getting rid of a slab leak can turn out to be a substantial investment and this is why it is very important that you only take the advice of the real professionals in this field i.e. Mesa Plumbing in Arizona.

Should you feel that there is a slab leak in your home simply log on to mesaplumbingcompany.com and let the real experts take care of all your slab leak related issues.