If you’ve got a leak under your kitchen sink, it’s pretty easy to detect, right? Either water is spraying or everything in your cabinet is wet!
But slab leaks under your house are a bit tougher to detect.
Slab leaks are basically water leaks below the concrete slab of your home. If a leak is present in the water pipes under the foundation, it’s very important to address this as soon as possible, or it could cause mold. Mold is very dangerous to your respiratory health and can also negatively affect your home’s support structures.
What causes slab leaks?
There are multiple reasons a slab leak could occur. Here are a few of the common causes:
• You could have clay below your foundation – as soil shifts, it puts pressure on the concrete foundation below your home, which can cause cracks.
• Water lines can accidentally be nicked while they’re installed or while workers lay the concrete slab – if a water line is nicked, it’s usually not a big deal at the time; however, as time passes and normal wear and tear happens, a very minor nick can become a crack that causes leaks.
• Corrosion, or gradual wasting away, occurs over time – due to chemicals in the soil, in partnership with heat, your home’s hot water pipes deteriorate, starting from the outside. Cold water pipes actually wear out the opposite way (starting from the inside) as a result of electrolysis.
• The ground shifts and puts pressure on your home’s water lines – as the weight of your home pushes against the concrete slab upon which it rests, it can eventually cause cracks and leaks (a simple earthquake can cause these shifts in a matter of seconds).
Now that you know a bit more about a few potential issues that can cause slab leaks, let’s dive into slab leak detection using this guide created by Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Bay Area.
What are some slab leak symptoms to watch out for?
If you’re wondering how to detect a water slab leak, here are a few warning signs:
1. If mold appears on your home’s floors, then travels up your walls, you could have a slab leak.
2. Should you smell something moldy or wet and you can’t identify or remove the cause of it, you could have a water leak under concrete floor issue.
3. You see bumps in parts of your home’s floor. If slab leaks are present, the foundation can shift and crack and manifest itself as these noticeable rises.
4. Parts of your yard show damage or flooding that never seems to dry. Slab leaks can actually stem from underneath your yard, too – and this flowing of water upwards can create these constantly flooding patches of grass.
Call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Bay Area to Help
If any of these symptoms are happening to your home, it’s important that you call a professional leak specialist right away.
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Bay Area has decades of experience with all kinds of residential plumbing issues, including slab leaks. One of our dedicated, expert plumbers will perform a thorough inspection and will recommend the best course of action to ensure the safety of your home.
Give us a call any time, 24/7!
