Water leaks what to do!
What to do if you have a water leak
Many People experience a plumbing leak at some stage throughout their life. Some leaks are obvious, like frozen pipes that burst. Others are hidden, like loose connections in under floor plumbing lines.
In this blog we’ll go over everything you need to know about water leaks, including where they most commonly originate, how to go about finding them, and why you should always bring in a professional plumber to assist you.
How do you know when you have a water leak?
Here are the most likely signs of a plumbing leak and a quick way to figure out if you have a leak in your home.
What are the signs of a leak?
Depending on where they originate and how severe they are, some leaks might be immediately apparent. Few homeowners are going to miss a frozen pipe bursting in their ceiling, for instance. A leak under a slab, for instance, may not always be visibly noticeable—you’ll only see evidence of it in abnormally high-water bills.
Here are some examples of signs you have a water leak:
• Discolored stains on floors, ceiling, and walls
• Wet spots beneath leaks from the ceiling
• Wet drywall
• Mold and mildew outside of showers and tubs
• Water leaking between slab cracks and its been dry for some time
Here are some more subtle signs you may have a leak:
• Strange, damp smells
• An obvious increase in your monthly water bill, both in usage and cost
• Trickling sounds of water or dripping sounds behind walls and under floors
Confirming you have a leak
If you have noticed water damage in your home, you can skip this step, you are pretty sure that you have a leak of some kind in your home. If you’re getting strange smells, seeing an increase in your water bills, or just have an intuitive feeling there’s a leak, further investigative work may be necessary.
This is how you can run a test. Throughout your dwelling, make sure no water is being used and ran for around 20-30 minutes. Try this when the family is out of the home. Be sure that the irrigation is turned off if it’s connected to the main meter at the front of the home. For the purposes of this test, you don’t want to shut the water off altogether, but you do want to ensure nothing is using water around your home. We always turn the valves off to the toilet and also the water heater, this will isolate the fill valves and any thermal expansion created by the heater while testing.
Check the water meter. Your water meter should have a leak indicator, your water meter will have a small wheel or a small triangle to indicate small movements of water. If you’ve successfully turned off everything else that’s using water and yours is moving, you have a plumbing leak.
You’re now at the point where it’s time to call us.
Other types of indoor leaks
It’s not always the plumbing that’s leaking. We’ll discuss roof leaks below, but there are types of other potential sources of water damage in your home:
Leaking Tubs & Showers
Beyond just the pipes that connect them, it could be something just as simple as caulking around your shower, tubs and other fixtures that are leaking.
Leaking Appliances
Check around your fridge to see if it has a leak from the water filter, check around the dishwasher because often it is just a quick tighten up of the clamp on the drain.
Leaking Water Heaters
The average age of a water heater is roughly 15-20 years and if you are aware of this it is a great place to start checking- more on this in other articles.
Is the leak coming from a pipe or my roof?
If you see a wet spot on your ceiling it may not be a water leak from your plumbing system. It is worth investigating if is a roof leak. As any roofer can tell you, roof leaks are incredibly common. If you have an idea on the age of your roof and it is toward the end of its lifespan it might be time to call a roofer for an inspection.
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Ruling out a roof leak
There are a few things you can do to rule out a roof leak, relatively quickly:
#1. Has it recently rained?
If it has been dry for quiet some time then the chances are it may not be a roof leak. On the other hand, it may have just recently rained. If the water isn’t dripping and it looks like a wet stain it might be worth waiting till there has been several days of dry weather to check to see if the wet stain grows.
#2. What does the water meter say?
Use the water meter test described above to check it to see if excess water is being used. A roof leak won’t spike your water use like a pipe leak will.
#3. What does a roofer say?
Many roofing companies use drones these days to inspect your roof and it’s quick and easy.
If you do determine that the leak is due to your roof, bring in an expert for roof leak repair as soon as you can. The faster you get your roof fixed, the sooner you can decide if that was the source of the problem.
If the water damage gets worse, the original source of the problem may not have been your roof after all.
How can I tell where a leak is coming from?
Water takes the path of least resistance; we have gone to homes and businesses where the water leak has tracked along a joist or bearer and landed 40-50 ft away from the source of the leak. We can use a listening device if need be-or sometimes it’s just good old fashioned plumbing detective work. Above we have shown you certain processes of elimination.
Call a plumber
At this point, you need to call a plumber for help finding the leak. That’s because so much of successful leak detection comes down to intuition and prior knowledge.
Experienced plumbers, like ours here at call your local plumber , have dealt with so many residential and commercial water leaks that we have a sense of where leaks often come from and how to best access them for fast water leak repair.
I always say to my customers, water leaks are like car oil leaks- they don’t fix themselves. A pipe leak won’t magically go away. If you take your time, or leave it to “next weekend,” that water damage is going to create other expenses in the long term. This includes everything that comes with water damage, including structural deterioration and mold growth. Leaks are urgent and must be dealt with urgently.
Outdoor leaks
If you think your water leak is outdoors then it’s time to get on it, wet ground and especially near foundations can attract termites.
Our yards have many services in them ranging from internet to, electrical cables and then there is water and sewer. In some respects, outdoor leaks are harder to initially identify, but easier to find. You’ll want to look for wet spots or wet slushy spots in the yard—especially if it hasn’t rained recently. Look where your sewer or septic line runs. You may also have a sewage leak; you may be able to identify this by the smell.
To find these leaks, our plumbers often have a pretty good idea where the line may run. We can dig and trace to identify the direction and the areas where a sewage leak maybe happening.
Irrigation leaks
Many Irrigation systems are controlled at a wall in a location such as your garage, the water then runs to a control box located in the ground and then onto the sprinkler heads, the water is under pressure behind the lawn control box. After the control box the lines are not under pressure all the time except when the sprinklers are running. Often we find leaks where there is a line break when only the sprinklers are running, the water doesn’t disperse correctly through the sprinkler head and instead leaves a section that’s concentrated with water, in turn leaving you with a big ole sloshy spot in your yard.
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