Plumbing leaks are a major concern and can cause significant damage in your home. If you think you have a leak, your trusted Houston emergency plumber can help diagnose and fix the problem. Leak detection is a must if you think you have a plumbing leak for any reason. These services help you determine if you have a leak in your home’s plumbing system and also find the exact location of the leak. From there, our plumbers can repair the issue efficiently to protect your home from damage.
Think You Have a Plumbing Leak? Call Your Houston Emergency Plumber
Any time you think you have a leak, you should call your plumber as soon as possible. Leaks won’t fix themselves and tend to get worse over time. In fact, leaks can progress quickly from just a couple of drips to a flood.
When you call about a suspected plumbing leak, our plumbers may recommend leak detection services. We’ll get into the details about these services a little later, but know that it’s the first step to finding unseen leaks. Many Houston homeowners get leak detection on a regular basis as part of routine maintenance, but you may need additional leak detection services if you think you might have a leak in your home.
Signs to Call Your Houston Emergency Plumber for Suspected Leaks
Plumbing leaks can cause many different issues in your home. It’s important to know the signs of a leak so you can address them early, before any major damage happens. Any time you notice signs of a leak, it’s time to call your Houston emergency plumber for leak detection and plumbing repairs.
Here are some signs you might have a leaky pipe
- Hearing Drips: Are the sounds of dripping keeping you awake at night? If you’ve checked all the faucets in the house and don’t find one dripping, it may be coming from the pipes inside the walls. Dripping noises are often an early indicator of a leak in your home’s plumbing system.
- Wall Cracks: Cracks in your walls can happen for many reasons. However, barring some type of impact or major foundation problems, typically vertical wall cracks are due to water damage from leaking plumbing.
- High Water Bills: Does it seem like your water bill is higher than it should be? It could mean that a plumbing leak is making your home use more water than normal. If you’re scratching your head about dramatic increases in your water bills, you may have a leak, and a pretty significant one. You should call your 24 hr. plumber in Houston for help.
- Mold on Walls: If you notice dark stains and musty smells in your home, typically this is due to mold growth. Mold loves dark, moist environments, which is exactly what it will find in your home if you have a pipe leak behind the wall.
- Wall Stains: Even if you’re lucky enough to avoid mold growth, you might notice stains and discoloration on walls, ceilings, and floors from a plumbing leak. This is often the first sign of water damage.
- Warped Areas: If your floors, walls, or ceilings look warped or bubbled, this typically points to a major leak in your plumbing. Once it gets to this point, you will probably need a Houston emergency plumber to stop further damage.
If you notice any of these signs (or suspect a leak for another reason), call our plumbers for leak detection services.
What is Leak Detection?
As you may have guessed, leak detection services detect leaks. That much is pretty obvious. However, these services require an experienced Houston plumber and advanced equipment to properly test your home’s plumbing system. Our plumbers use hydrostatic testing to find leaks in your pipes.
Hydrostatic testing primarily tests the drain system in your home. This is because usually that’s where hidden leaks are. Water lines in your home’s plumbing system are under constant pressure from water. Therefore, leaks in the supply pipes are typically more catastrophic and usually pretty obvious. When you suspect a leak, we start with an overall hydrostatic test for your home and may also perform isolation testing for your pipes.
Hydrostatic Testing from Your Houston Emergency Plumber
The first step your Houston emergency plumber will usually take for a suspected leak is an overall hydrostatic test for the entire plumbing system. To perform this test, the plumber needs to block off the main drain line that connects your home to the city line. Then, we fill the drain lines with water to a certain pressure. Once the lines are full of water, we monitor the water level either from the sewer clean out or a removed toilet in your home. If the water starts to go down after 15 minutes or so, you have a leak. If the water level remains steady, something else is causing the problem.
Isolation Testing
If the whole-home leak test shows there is a leak, then we may move on to isolation testing. This is essentially the same type of leak detection, but in specific areas of the plumbing system. Your Houston emergency plumber will isolate a certain area of the plumbing system. Then, we perform the test again to pinpoint where the leak is and which pipes need repair or replacement.
Other Times You May Need Hydrostatic Testing from Your Houston Plumber
We’ve talked a lot about leak detection for suspected leaks and when to call your Houston emergency plumber about these services. However, there are also some other times where you may need leak detection services for your home.
As we mentioned earlier, hydrostatic testing can be a part of your routine plumbing maintenance. Many people get leak detection services at least once a year to find leaks early, before they begin showing the signs we mentioned earlier. This helps our plumbers repair the problem before you have major damage that needs repair, such as damaged flooring or cracked foundations.
Another time you may need leak detection services is after foundation work. Any time you repair your home’s foundation, the pipes in your plumbing system (particularly those under the slab) may experience extra stress. Therefore, most pros recommend getting hydrostatic testing after foundation work to find any leaks caused by the foundation repair process.
Also, many home buyers get leak detection on the plumbing for a home they wish to buy. This is typically performed during the inspection period by a qualified Houston plumber. If the plumber finds leaks, buyers and sellers can negotiate to repair them so that everyone is happy for the home purchase.
Santhoff Plumbing Company – Highly Rated 24 Hr. Plumber in Houston
Whether you have a plumbing issue or need a plumber for a remodel project, you need a team you can trust for quality work and friendly service. At Santhoff Plumbing, we offer a wide range of services for residential and commercial plumbing systems from expert plumbers. We are a family-owned and operated local plumbing company that you can trust for all your plumbing needs. Get in touch to schedule a service call or call our 24/7 line at (713) 360-2185 for plumbing emergencies.