Slab leak detection in Anaheim

What it looks like in an Anaheim ranch home

The layouts are familiar: a hallway down the middle, bathrooms on one side, kitchen at the back, water heater in the garage. The hot line runs from the garage under the slab to the kitchen and bathrooms, and that's the line that most often fails. Homeowners usually notice a warm strip in the hallway or the kitchen, a heater that seems to be running all the time, or the faint sound of water under the floor at night.

Because these homes are single-storey with a full attic, they're ideal for rerouting: the new line goes up from the garage, across the attic and down inside walls to each fixture.

Repair it or reroute it

Many Anaheim owners have had a slab leak repaired once already, sometimes by a previous owner. If you're not sure, look for a patched area in the slab in a closet or the garage, or a section of PEX in the attic.

Anaheim Hills is different

Homes east of the 55 were mostly built in the 1970s and 1980s, many two-storey, on hillside lots. Slab leaks happen there too, but the route for a reroute is longer and the street pressure can be high. Ask the plumber to check the pressure regulator while they're there.

A typical Anaheim slab-leak day

The plumber will usually ask you to turn off every fixture, then check the meter in the parkway and the pressure at a hose bib. Splitting hot from cold at the garage heater narrows things fast. In a single-storey ranch, the thermal scan of the hallway and kitchen floor often shows the hot line glowing along its route, and the acoustic microphone confirms the exact spot.

If you opt for a reroute, the attic work is the bulk of the job: new PEX is run from the garage across the ceiling joists and dropped into walls behind the kitchen sink, the tub and the bathroom vanity. Small access holes are patched afterwards, either by the plumber or a drywall contractor. Ask which, and whether insulation disturbed in the attic will be put back.