Leak Detection in Chapel Hill, NC

The most common signs are a water bill that climbs with no change in your usage, the sound of running water when everything’s off, a damp or discolored spot on a wall or ceiling, a warm or soft patch on the floor, a musty mildew smell, or a water meter that keeps moving after you’ve shut off every fixture. Any one of these is worth checking. Several together usually mean water is escaping somewhere out of sight.

Because the most expensive leaks are the ones you can’t see. A silent toilet leak, a cracked supply line in a wall or crawlspace, or a break in the buried line to your house can waste hundreds of gallons a day without ever showing on the surface. On OWASA’s tiered rate structure, that extra water also pushes your usage into higher-priced billing tiers, so the spike is sharper than the gallons alone would suggest.

We work with all available evidence first. A water-meter check with every fixture off confirms water is escaping, a pressure test narrows down the zone, and shutting off lines and fixtures one at a time isolates the failing line. We inspect the crawlspace, water heater, under-sink connections, ceilings, and walls for the physical signs. Only once we know where the leak is do we open the smallest access needed to repair it, instead of guessing and cutting.

A slab leak is a leak in a water line running beneath a home’s concrete foundation slab. They’re common in regions where most homes sit on slabs, like Florida and Texas. Most established Triangle homes sit over crawlspaces instead, so true slab leaks are less common here than other plumbers might suggest. They do happen in slab-built homes, and we can locate and repair them. For most local homeowners, though, a hidden leak is more likely in a crawlspace line, a wall, or the buried yard line.

Yes. A slow leak behind a wall or under the house runs continuously, and over weeks it can rot framing, warp flooring, and grow mold long before you notice it. The EPA estimates household leaks waste around 10,000 gallons a year on average. Catching a leak early usually means a small, targeted repair instead of a structural one.

Both. Once we’ve pinpointed the leak, our licensed plumbers repair or replace the failed section on the spot in most cases, since our trucks run stocked. You don’t have to find a separate company to do the fix. If the leak points to a bigger problem, like a failing run of old pipe, we’ll walk you through the options honestly before any work starts.

It depends. A pipe actively flooding your home, or a burst line, is an emergency, so call us right away and see our emergency plumbing page. A hidden leak that’s showing up as a high bill, a stain, or a damp spot is serious but not an emergency, and it’s exactly what this service is for. Either way, the sooner it’s found, the smaller the repair.

It depends on your policy. Most homeowners policies cover sudden water damage, like a pipe that bursts, but exclude gradual damage from a leak that ran unnoticed for months, and the repair of the pipe itself is usually the homeowner’s responsibility. That’s one more reason to act on the early signs quickly. When we make a repair, we provide a clear, documented invoice you can submit to your insurer, and you should confirm the specifics of your coverage with them.