For many decades, houses all over California have been built on concrete slabs with the water supply lines (hot &cold) buried in the ground below the slab. It is only a matter of time before these pipes develop leaks and since they are pressurized, the leaks can become quite significant in a very short period of time wasting a valuable resource and costing the homeowner (or commercial building owner) a lot of money! The leaks must be located before they can be repaired. Our standard method is to first determine if the leak is a hot or cold water leak. The path and depth of the pipe(s) is then located by attaching a transmitter topart of the exposed pipe and recovering the signal sent on the pipe with a hand-held receiver set to match the signal of the transmitter. The path and depth of the pipes are marked on the surface and then the water system is isolated (turned off) at its valve and charged up with carbon dioxide (CO2). When the CO2 begins leaking out of the buried pipe at pressure (usually 40-60 psi), an instrument similar to an electronic stethoscope,is used to listen for the leak on the surface of the slab. Once a strong “leak signal” is found the area is marked for excavation by a plumber who makes the repair.

An alternative to excavating and repairing the underground leaking pipes is to abandon them and re-route them overhead in the ceilings and walls. This is often seen as a better “fix” because it gets the pipe(s) out of the ground. Once fitted in the walls and ceilings, these pipes are very unlikely to ever leak again if done properly by a licensed and experienced plumber. In order to re-route the water pipes, they must be located, specifically the manifolds where pipes come up from under the slab to feed fixtures (baths, sinks etc.), then tap off and continue back under the slab to feed the next fixture. We can locate the leak and mark it for repair, and also mark the path of the pipes and area of manifolds so the customer has either option available to them.