Slab Leak Repair in Atlanta, GA

Is your home even a candidate?

Slab leaks only happen in houses built on concrete. Many of Atlanta's early-1900s bungalows in neighborhoods like Virginia-Highland and Grant Park sit over crawl spaces or basements, where pipes can be reached from below and a leak is an ordinary repair. Slab construction is more common in newer houses, and the city's housing stock is mixed: Census survey data puts the median year built at 1989, with about 42.7% of homes built before 1980.

Warning signs

• A floor area that feels warm underfoot, often along the hot water run
• Faint hissing or trickling when every fixture is off
• Wet carpet pad, lifting tile or swollen trim with no visible source
• A water heater that seems to run constantly
• A water bill that climbs while your habits stay the same

A quick check you can do

Turn off all water use and watch the meter. If it still registers flow, close the main valve where the line enters the house. A meter that stops after that points to a leak inside the house. One that keeps going suggests the buried line in the yard, which is a water line repair instead.

How a plumber finds it

Isolating the hot and cold sides and pressure testing each one tells the plumber which line is losing water. Acoustic listening gear and, where useful, thermal imaging then narrow the location so only a small section of concrete needs to come up.

Choosing the repair

What drives the price and paperwork

Locating time, the finish floor over the leak, the repair route and any drying all affect cost; flooring replacement is usually a separate contractor. The City of Atlanta Office of Buildings handles plumbing permits for replacement work in one- and two-family homes as online technical permits without plan review, so ask the plumber whether yours needs one.