How we find a leak you cannot see
The first test is free and takes two minutes: with every tap, appliance and irrigation valve closed, the meter dial should be still. If it is moving, water is going somewhere between the meter and the fixtures.
From there it is elimination. Isolating the house from the service line says which side the loss is on. Isolating the hot side at the water heater says whether it is a hot-water run under the slab — the most common slab leak by a wide margin. Acoustic equipment then narrows the position along the run, and a thermal check confirms it on the hot side.
The signs that bring people to this page
Any one of these is worth a meter check the same day.
- A warm patch on a tiled or concrete floor with nothing above it to explain the heat.
- The sound of running water in a quiet house with everything closed.
- A water bill that has stepped up without a change in the household.
- Damp at the edge of a carpet, or a skirting board that has started to lift.
- A hot water system that never seems to keep up any more.
Slab leaks: repair or reroute
A first failure in otherwise sound copper is usually worth a spot repair: open a small area, replace the failed section, close it up. The house is back to normal in a day.
A second failure on the same run is a different conversation. The rest of that line is the same age, was installed the same way and sits in the same conditions, so repairing it again is buying time rather than solving anything. Rerouting the run overhead or through walls takes it out of the slab permanently.
Gas leaks are a separate job with a separate order
If you smell gas, the sequence is: leave, ventilate on the way out, do not touch switches, and call the gas utility from outside. That call comes before ours — their job is to make the property safe.
Our work starts after that. We pressure-test the house line, sweep joints and appliance connections with a combustible gas detector, find the failed section and repair it to code so the utility can restore service. Gas work is not a place for a temporary fix.
