A slab leak is a break in a supply or drain line running beneath your home's concrete foundation. Because the water has nowhere to go but into the subgrade and up, homeowners usually notice the symptoms — a warm patch, a rising bill, a faint hiss — long before they see water.
The part that costs people money isn't the repair. It's a contractor who guesses at the location and opens the floor in three places to find it. We locate first.
Call us today if you notice
- A warm or hot spot on the floor that moves with hot-water use
- Water running audibly when every fixture and appliance is off
- A water bill that jumped with no change in household usage
- Water pressure that has dropped gradually over weeks or months
- New cracks in floor tile, grout, or drywall near the base of a wall
- Musty odor, damp carpet edges, or unexplained mold at a baseboard
- The low-flow indicator on your meter turning with the house shut down
Our detection process
1. Confirm and isolate
Meter check, then isolation testing to establish whether you have a supply leak, a drain leak, or an irrigation problem masquerading as one. We pressure-test the hot and cold sides separately so we know which system we're chasing before we spend your money looking.
2. Locate acoustically
Pressurized water escaping under concrete makes a distinctive sound. Ground microphones and line tracing narrow it to a specific point. On hot-water lines, thermal imaging confirms the location from the surface.
3. Present the options in writing
Spot repair through the slab, an overhead reroute of the affected run, or a whole-house repipe — with flat-rate prices for each and an honest read on which makes sense given the pipe's condition and history. If this is your third leak, we'll tell you that spot repair number four is throwing good money after bad.
4. Repair and restore
Careful concrete cutting, repair with the correct materials, pressure test before closing, and concrete patched back. We coordinate flooring restoration and document everything for an insurance claim.
Preventing the next one
Check your water pressure
Municipal pressure in parts of the Valley arrives well above what residential plumbing is designed for. Sustained high pressure accelerates pinhole failures, kills water heaters early, and blows out supply lines to toilets and washing machines. A pressure reducing valve is inexpensive and we test pressure on every plumbing visit.
Consider a reroute at the second failure
Copper that has begun pitting from the inside rarely pits in only one spot. When we see a second slab leak in the same system, an overhead reroute usually saves money within a couple of years — and it takes future leaks out of the concrete entirely, where they're cheap to fix.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I have a slab leak?
The classic signs are a warm spot on the floor, the sound of running water when every fixture is off, an unexplained jump in the water bill, low pressure that came on gradually, cracking in floor tile or drywall, or a musty smell near a wall base. The fastest at-home check: shut off every fixture, find the water meter, and see if the low-flow indicator is still turning. If it is, water is going somewhere.
How do you find the leak without tearing up the floor?
We isolate first — shut valves section by section and use pressure testing to determine whether the leak is on the hot side, the cold side, or in the sewer line. Then we locate it with acoustic listening equipment and line tracing, and confirm with thermal imaging where the leak is on a hot line. The goal is a target you can put your hand on, so any concrete work is a small opening in the right place rather than exploratory demolition.
Should I repair the leak or reroute the line?
It depends on the pipe's age, material, and whether this is the first failure. A single pinhole in otherwise sound copper is worth a spot repair. A second or third leak in the same slab usually means the whole run is failing, and continuing to open the floor one leak at a time gets expensive fast — at that point an overhead reroute through the attic and walls, bypassing the slab entirely, is typically the better value. We show you both prices and the reasoning.
Why do slab leaks happen so often in Arizona?
A few reasons stack up here: aggressive water chemistry that pits copper from the inside, abrasion where a pipe crosses rebar or rests against rough concrete and expands and contracts with every hot-water draw, high water pressure from municipal supply that never got regulated at the house, and soil movement. High pressure is the one homeowners can actually control — a working pressure reducing valve is cheap insurance.
Does homeowners insurance cover a slab leak?
Policies vary widely. Many cover the resulting water damage and the cost of accessing the pipe, while excluding the pipe repair itself; some exclude gradual leaks entirely. We document everything — detection findings, photos, and a written scope — so you have what an adjuster will ask for. Call your carrier before work starts if you intend to file.
How long does a slab leak repair take?
Detection is usually a same-visit process, often a couple of hours. A spot repair through the slab is commonly a one-day job plus concrete cure and floor restoration. A whole-house overhead reroute typically runs several days depending on size and finish work. We give you a written timeline before we start, and we shut water off for the shortest window we can.
What if I just leave it?
It won't stop, and the damage compounds — saturated subgrade, ruined flooring, mold in wall assemblies, and a water bill that keeps climbing. A slab leak is one of the few plumbing problems where waiting reliably makes the repair bigger and more expensive.