More than half of Clarkston's homes were built before 1980, with about 31% from the 1970s alone, so copper under many local slabs is decades old. DeKalb County manages water and sewer, and its responsibility ends at the meter. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Clarkston.
Clarkston is a small inner-ring DeKalb city just outside I-285, with housing that is largely 1970s and 1980s apartments and homes. Census survey figures via Point2Homes put the median year built at 1979, with about 53% before 1980. The city says its water and sewer are managed by DeKalb County. DeKalb Watershed owns the service line from the main to the meter; the owner is responsible from the meter to the home's plumbing.
What to do now
- Turn off all water in the home.
- Check the meter for movement over several minutes.
- Test toilets with food coloring in the tanks.
- Feel the floors for warmth and look for damp carpet or baseboards.
- Close the main if water is surfacing.
- Call the right party: DeKalb for a leak at the meter, a plumber for a leak inside.
Symptoms and causes
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Warm floor near a bath or kitchen | Hot line leaking in the slab |
| Meter moving, no wet spots | Cold line or meter-to-house line leak |
| Cracked tile with dampness | Water working up through the slab |
| Mildew at a wall base | Slow leak running for a while |
| Pressure dropping over months | Leak growing in older pipe |
What affects cost
- Locating time
- Spot repair versus rerouting older copper
- Floor finish over the leak
- Water damage
- A city trade permit for piping alterations
Clarkston requires a permit for fixture work that alters piping, applied for through the city's trade permit application. In a 1970s home, rerouting the supply often prevents a second leak in the same aging run.
Older homes and apartments
Much of Clarkston's housing is 1970s apartments and townhomes as well as single-family houses. In a rented unit or condo, tell the landlord or association before arranging work, since a supply line under a shared slab may serve more than one unit and the responsibility can be split. In a single-family home, the decision is yours: one opening in the floor for a single failure, or a new line through walls and attic to retire fifty-year-old copper. Many owners of 1970s homes choose the reroute after the first leak, because the remaining buried pipe is the same age and was laid the same way.
Slab Leak Repair questions in Clarkston
Does the age of my home change the odds of a slab leak?
What if the leak turns out to be at the meter or in the street?
Is a permit needed for slab leak work here?
Can a cold water line leak under the slab too?
More plumbing services in Clarkston
Slab Leak Repair nearby
Helpful guides
Sources
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