Slab Leak Damage and Detection

Our leak detection and water damage team has performed over 3,000 slab leak detection jobs in the Los Angeles and Ventura county areas.

We have seen it all when it comes to slab leak damage to a home. Warm floors to high water bills, all the way to major water damage wiping out an entire kitchen.

Twin Home Experts has seen more slab leak damage in Ventura County than any other city in Los Angeles.

Why? Most homes in Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Simi Valley, and Calabasas were built slab on grade. This means all the plumbing is under the concrete foundation of your home, where the greater Los Angeles area, was built on a crawl space.

Here are 2 great visual examples of slab leak damage to a home that we documented: c rawl space pin hole leak damage (video) and slab leak kitchen damage (photos).

Slab leaks are more common in tract homes built in the 70s.

Especially if your home has a recirculating pump/system that is connected to copper pipes. Recirculating pumps are typically located at the water heater, and recirculate the hot water throughout the house in order to provide instantaneous hot water at each fixture.

Although it’s nice to get that hot water fast, the price you pay inevitably is slab leaks in your home. Most slab leak damages are caused by recirculating systems. Another leading cause is hard water – chloramines in the water that the city dumps in, to sanitize the domestic water, cause pinhole leaks in copper pipe.

1. Install a timer to your recirculating pump. The pump does not to be running 24 hours a day. If you install a timer and only have it run while you need it, this can add years of no leaks and add more lifespan to your water system.
2. Install a whole house water filter system. This removes the chlorine and conditions the water. We recommend the HALO water system. We have installed over 100 HALO water systems and the reviews have been GREAT!
3. Replace your water system with uponor pex piping. This material is not plastic; it’s a membrane material that expands and contracts. Hard water or that recirculating pump will not cause pinhole slab leaks. If you go back with copper, you are setting yourself up for future leaks.

Warm floor

Waking up and walking over a warm spot on your flooring. If you feel a warm spot on your floor that you didn’t have before, don’t let this go. Immediately make sure no one is using water in the home, then go to your water meter and see if your meter dial is spinning. If it is, you have a slab leak.

High water bill

High water bill is a sign that you may have a slab leak. You can always call your local water department to come out and verify whether or not you do have a leak on your property. They might even tell you if you have a leak inside your home vs landscape.

If not there is a simple test that can provide you confirmation of a slab leak in your home.

Buy a water gauge at your local hardware store or Home Depot it’ll cost $10 or less.

Install the gauge onto a hose bib that is connected to the water pipes to the home. (If you see a hose bib coming through the stucco wall, this typically is a great place to check.)

Screw the water gauge on the hose bib, then turn the hose bib on.

You should see the needle move to a number displayed on the gauge (50, 60, 70 etc) – it should have a reading less than 85 PSI. If you do, your water pressure is fine. If it’s over 100 PSI, you need a pressure regulator.

When you see that needle set to a number, now shut the main water supply to the house off. Then watch the needle displayed on the water gauge to see if it drops. If the needle starts to drop, it’s more than likely you have a slab leak.

Finding a top slab leak detection company in Los Angeles and Ventura County areas that specialize in pinpointing slab leaks and tracing out the underground water system is super important.

Most people think just pinpointing the underground slab leak is important and good enough. Our team always traces out the underground water system on top of pinpointing the leak.

Why? When you trace out how your underground water system runs, it makes it so much easier to provide options on repairs, repiping or rerouting.

If you don’t know how your underground water pipes are running, it’s impossible to provide the best option for repairs.

Sherlock Leak Detection

Super knowledgeable, uses state of the art slab leak detection equipment, highly rated online and we hear provides honest and fair pricing from $295-495.

Curmax Leak Detection

Great price and has great leak detection equipment. He does a good job tracing out the water lines to help facilitate repairs.

Twin Home Experts Leak Detection

Twin brothers, David and Jim Schuelke, offer a full service experience.

Locate the slab leak, trace out the water lines, perform the repipe/reroute and will handle the mold remediation and water damage to your home. Twin Home will help facilitate your insurance claim for your coverage, because insurance does cover slab leak damages to your home.

Twin Home Experts does leak detection services for FREE when you hire them to do your water damage or mold removal project.

Slab leak detection costs can range from $250-950. The more expensive slab leaks are the ones that are leaking slow.

These slow leaks require more work and typically need to pump the underground water system up with nitrogen. Pumping nitrogen into the water system creates a loud bubbling effect, so that the acoustic leak detection can pinpoint the leak much easier.