Are you a resident of Long Beach with a high water bill? Are you hearing a slight hissing sound similar to water running under a cabinet or in the wall? Is there a warm spot in your floor? Is your foundation’s ground unusually saturated?
If you have a slab foundation, these could be signs of a slab leak. A leaky faucet in your house’s pressurized water pipes.
It can be hard to find and fix these pipes if they leak because they are hard to access. This article will discuss the various ways that these leaks can be fixed. It will depend on how your house was built and where the leak is located.
jack-hammer: the concrete slab to fix the leak, then dig down to the pipe and repair it. You can also dig a tunnel through dirt underneath the slab, all the way to the source of the leak.
Third, you can abandon the leaky line below the slab and run a new line through the wall/attic. Last, you can use the copper line as a sleeves by running a new one through it.
JACK-HAMMER THE SLAB
This type of repair requires finding the source of the leak. You could end up drilling multiple holes in the concrete, causing a great deal of damage to the house.
Most Long Beach Plumbers use a variety of tools to locate the leak beneath all the concrete and dirt. To trace the copper line that runs beneath the slab, they use tracing equipment. In addition, they use hearing aids to hear the loudest noises. To pinpoint hot spots caused by a hot-water line leak, they can use infrared thermometers.
Once all evidence points to the spot, the concrete and flooring are removed with a jack-hammer. The dirt is then excavated until it is visible. This process will be completed by a skilled professional with minimal mess.
Long Beach plumbers who are not skilled enough can make major damage to your house by jack-hammering. This is sometimes the best way of repairing a slab leak. It is however the most inconvenient method, and will require flooring to be refinished. It only fixes the one leaky spot. It is possible that another leak will develop in the future.
Even with all the skill and equipment, it is impossible to find the leak on the first attempt. It can be made more difficult by factors like concrete foundation beams or insulated lines.
TUNNEL UNDER THE HOUSE
A tunnel is the simplest and most cost-effective way to repair the leak. To repair a leak this way, you need to start by identifying the leak the same way you would when you jack-hammer through the slab.
Once you have located the leak, locate the nearest exterior wall. You then dig an access hole approximately 3′ deep. You then tunnel horizontally underneath the slab until reaching the spot of your repair.
This enormous amount of work is usually done by hand or by a full crew. This type of job requires no heavy equipment.
Tunneling has the advantage of being able to replace damaged sections if needed. However, the tunnel’s capabilities are limited. Sometimes the water leakage is caused by a pipe that has been encased with concrete. This concrete must be chipped away using a small jackhammer to make the repair possible.
Although it is time-consuming, this can sometimes be the best way to repair the damage. This is an option that is more attractive if the leak is close to the outside wall and is of high priority.
RE-ROUTE THROUGH THE ATTIC
Re-routes don’t aim to locate and repair a single water leak. A re-route focuses on discovering where the lines are coming up above the slab. After this, the entire copper line will be removed from the slab and a new line is created. It runs from “Point A” through “Point B” through walls and the attic.
Long Beach Plumbers can use many different tools and equipment to determine which line is leaking and where it enters the wall. The points where copper pipes join together in the wall are known as ” manifolds“.
To locate the manifolds, tracing equipment and techniques can be used. Once the manifold has been exposed, pressure testing tools and methods can be used to identify which lines are leaking.
Re-routing is an excellent option as it eliminates the whole line and protects against future leaks. Re-routing does require the removal of sheetrock walls in some places. It is the most cost-effective method to repair a slab leak, especially if the house has only one story.
If the house has multiple stories, it can be difficult. Much depends on how your water lines are run and the framing of the home.
To do the job right, you need to have a good understanding of plumbing systems and house building. This is the most advanced method to repair a slab leak. However, the whole process can be completed in less than one day.
PASS-THROUGH AN OLD LINE
Pass-through is a method that can be used to repair slab leaks. It’s very similar to the “reroute” method. The entire leakage line can be eliminated. A smaller, new line can sometimes run through the old copper wire if “Point A” or “Point B” are determined. After the line has been passed from one end to the other, the water can be restored and reconnected.
This option has one major drawback: it reduces the size of the existing line. Pass-throughs cannot be done if your new line is not sufficiently sized to supply water to fixtures as per the plumbing code.
To help figure out which situation qualifies for pass-through, you need to have experience with plumbing codes. Pass-through has the disadvantage of being more likely to fail. It can be difficult or impossible to run a new copper line through if the existing copper line is bent, kinked, or very long.
ALTERNATIVES
One new technology is pipe-lining, which is claimed to be a solution for slab leaks. This technology is used in large sewer lines that aren’t under pressure in commercial settings.
It is used to cover copper water lines in residential pressurized water systems. It works well in theory but a handful of individuals are not happy bout the durability of this type repair and the initial upfront cost. This is not a method we recommend for pipe repair. It can also cause a lot of headaches if the pipe has to be serviced again in the future.