Slab Leak Repair in Largo, FL

Florida houses are built on concrete, and Largo is no exception. With no basement and no crawlspace, the copper or plastic pipes that feed your kitchen and bathrooms are usually buried in the sand beneath the slab or set into it. A leak down there stays out of sight, and the sandy ground can soak up a surprising amount of water before any of it shows on the floor.

Clues That Point Under the Floor

• Part of a tile or laminate floor feels noticeably warmer than the rest
• A faint hiss or trickle in a quiet room with every fixture off
• Cracks spreading across floor tile, or baseboards that are swelling
• The water meter moving while nothing in the house is using water
• Mildew odor or damp carpet with no plumbing fixture nearby
• Lower water pressure at several fixtures at the same time

Pinpointing the Leak

We isolate the house from the irrigation system and check the meter, then shut off and pressure-test the hot and cold supply separately. That tells us which line is losing water. Ground microphones pick up the sound of water escaping through the concrete, and an infrared camera shows the heat signature of a hot-side leak, so the repair starts in the right spot.

Ways to Fix It

• Direct repair: a small section of the slab is opened over the leak, the damaged pipe is cut out and replaced, the line is tested, and the opening is filled with new concrete.
• Rerouting: the leaking run is capped and a new line is taken overhead through the attic and down inside the walls, so nobody has to break into the floor at all.
• Whole-house repipe: if the house has leaked under the slab before, the remaining pipe is likely in similar shape. Our repiping service replaces it in one project.

What Wears Out Pipes Under a Largo Slab

Pipes under a slab sit against concrete and fill sand, and every time hot water runs through them they expand and contract a little. Over decades that movement rubs thin spots into copper. Water chemistry and high water velocity wear pipe from the inside as well. Homes from the 1960s through the 1980s, common across Largo, Seminole and the Walsingham area, are at the age where this shows up most.

Before the work starts, we explain which repair suits your home and why. If floors or walls have already been soaked, ask your insurer early about what the policy covers, since the cost of reaching the pipe and the cost of the pipe itself are often handled separately.