My Brother-In-Law died several months ago and since his only heir, a daughter, lives in another city; it has fallen to my wife and myself to assist in the clearing out and preparation of his house for sale.
The house is a fairly standard single story brick with 3 BR, 2 BA, LR, DR, Kit, Garage; it also has a pool. It is on a slab with what I believe is copper piping. I believe it is approximately 25 30 years old.
Recently, his daughter who is receiving all the bills concerning his home, said the water bill has been going up the last few months. During this period the house has been unoccupied. We check it regularly to make sure its OK. It has always had heat in it (the weather around her hasnt been below freezing around here anyway).
Once we found about the unusual water usage we started trying to check things out. The water department says there is definitely water usage continuing. We started checking out everything we knew to check toilets leaking, any evidence of water leakage in house, water heater operating OK, any wet areas around yard or pool plumbing (pool had been winterized and covered several months ago), outside faucets leaking, etc. We finally turned the water off at the meter (theres no inside shut-off valve) except when we turn it back on to search for leaks.
We have someone coming out to check out an old unused sprinkler system to make sure it has been shut off at the source (water meter). We checked it and it is shut off at the control panel. A helpful HVAC service man who came in to do semi-annual maintenance on the system was kind enough to spend an hour helping look for leaks in the house/yard even though it would have no connection to his HVAC system.
If nothing is found to be leaking with the sprinkler system, Im about at the end of the things I can think of to check, unless you guys can give me some more ideas. If I call a plumber in at this point; do they typically have the leak detection equipment to find the leak?
I was talking to a friend of mine last night and he said he has about the same age slab foundation house with copper piping and a couple of years he had a leak that they somehow determined was in/under the slab and they had to replumb it by going thru the attic. With the plumbing cost and the wall and ceiling sheetrock damage repair, it turned out to be pretty expensive.
Any ideas on how to find the lead and what I might be looking at? Id appreciate any ideas, suggestions or comments at this point.
Thanks,
The house is a fairly standard single story brick with 3 BR, 2 BA, LR, DR, Kit, Garage; it also has a pool. It is on a slab with what I believe is copper piping. I believe it is approximately 25 30 years old.
Recently, his daughter who is receiving all the bills concerning his home, said the water bill has been going up the last few months. During this period the house has been unoccupied. We check it regularly to make sure its OK. It has always had heat in it (the weather around her hasnt been below freezing around here anyway).
Once we found about the unusual water usage we started trying to check things out. The water department says there is definitely water usage continuing. We started checking out everything we knew to check toilets leaking, any evidence of water leakage in house, water heater operating OK, any wet areas around yard or pool plumbing (pool had been winterized and covered several months ago), outside faucets leaking, etc. We finally turned the water off at the meter (theres no inside shut-off valve) except when we turn it back on to search for leaks.
We have someone coming out to check out an old unused sprinkler system to make sure it has been shut off at the source (water meter). We checked it and it is shut off at the control panel. A helpful HVAC service man who came in to do semi-annual maintenance on the system was kind enough to spend an hour helping look for leaks in the house/yard even though it would have no connection to his HVAC system.
If nothing is found to be leaking with the sprinkler system, Im about at the end of the things I can think of to check, unless you guys can give me some more ideas. If I call a plumber in at this point; do they typically have the leak detection equipment to find the leak?
I was talking to a friend of mine last night and he said he has about the same age slab foundation house with copper piping and a couple of years he had a leak that they somehow determined was in/under the slab and they had to replumb it by going thru the attic. With the plumbing cost and the wall and ceiling sheetrock damage repair, it turned out to be pretty expensive.
Any ideas on how to find the lead and what I might be looking at? Id appreciate any ideas, suggestions or comments at this point.
Thanks,
