- Jun 11, 2014
- 14,937
- 20,254
Founding Member
Since everyone else is sharing their stories, I figured I'd do the same.
Anyone ever heard of a slab leak? Anyone ever dealt with a slab leak? Know what the hell a slab leak is? Well, I do and it is very common in my area. It's not a matter of "if" it will happen, but "when".
So, here's the long and the short of it... Friday evening I was filling my dog's water bowl from the kitchen sink and noticed that there was hot water coming out of the cold water side. Now our facet is a single arm which you maneuver to the right for cold or to the left for hot or up the center for warm. So, I pushed it to the left and got even hotter water. I didn't think much of it other than, "Damn kids! Now I have to replace this facet." See, I've got a 2 1/4 and 3 3/4 boys who tear up everything. Didn't faze me to think they broke this. Saturday morning, I woke up and walked own the hall, past the laundry room and into the kitchen to get coffee. I have tile and wood floors that are on concrete slab. As I walked by, I quickly realized my floor was much warmer in a 3 foot section than the rest of the floor. We're talking 20° warmer in this section. It then hit me... Our time has come.
I went out to the road and pulled up the cover to the meter and sure enough, it was spinning when it shouldn't be. A small spin, but still a spin. By Monday, yesterday, I've got a serious audible "SSHSHHHHHH" happening in my wall, by the laundry room, and the dial at the meter is going a mile a minute. I how have to shut off the water at the shutoff valve to keep from creating a giant reservoir under my house.
So now, I have a few plumbers come out and the fix is to reroute the pipes through the walls and into the attic. Which means that just about every wall in the house will need at least a hole cut in the top and bottom or possible a trench from floor to ceiling and let the repiping begin.
Anyone ever heard of a slab leak? Anyone ever dealt with a slab leak? Know what the hell a slab leak is? Well, I do and it is very common in my area. It's not a matter of "if" it will happen, but "when".
So, here's the long and the short of it... Friday evening I was filling my dog's water bowl from the kitchen sink and noticed that there was hot water coming out of the cold water side. Now our facet is a single arm which you maneuver to the right for cold or to the left for hot or up the center for warm. So, I pushed it to the left and got even hotter water. I didn't think much of it other than, "Damn kids! Now I have to replace this facet." See, I've got a 2 1/4 and 3 3/4 boys who tear up everything. Didn't faze me to think they broke this. Saturday morning, I woke up and walked own the hall, past the laundry room and into the kitchen to get coffee. I have tile and wood floors that are on concrete slab. As I walked by, I quickly realized my floor was much warmer in a 3 foot section than the rest of the floor. We're talking 20° warmer in this section. It then hit me... Our time has come.
I went out to the road and pulled up the cover to the meter and sure enough, it was spinning when it shouldn't be. A small spin, but still a spin. By Monday, yesterday, I've got a serious audible "SSHSHHHHHH" happening in my wall, by the laundry room, and the dial at the meter is going a mile a minute. I how have to shut off the water at the shutoff valve to keep from creating a giant reservoir under my house.
So now, I have a few plumbers come out and the fix is to reroute the pipes through the walls and into the attic. Which means that just about every wall in the house will need at least a hole cut in the top and bottom or possible a trench from floor to ceiling and let the repiping begin.