kjwalker01
Member
On November 17, I noticed a saturated portion of the carpet in a downstairs bedroom. I pulled the carpet back, and noticed the water was coming from under the baseboard of a common wall between the bedroom and bathroom. I called a plumber who came out, cut a hole in the drywall, and found the water was seeping up through the slab around the hot water pipe to the bathroom faucet. There was no mold in the wall, nor any other sign that this had been an issue for long. The water was clean and odorless, and there were no signs of sand, so it didnt appear to be groundwater. (Though, we had received 4-5 inches of rain the past evening).
The plumber did a pressure test on the line to about 65psi, but could not get a pressure drop. He also tried listening equipment, but could not locate the leak. He said that the owner of the plumbing company would come out the next day, which he did. The owner was finally able to get a slight pressure drop after increasing the pressure to about 120psi, but was also unable to locate the leak using the listening equipment. He said that he thought he leak was close to the surface and suggested that they jackhammer into the foundation, which I reluctantly agreed to.
Later that evening, the leak completely stopped, so I cancelled the appt to jackhammer and scheduled a service call with another plumber that had been referred. The leak started up again after about 3 days, and when the new plumber came out a few days after that, he was also unable to detect the leak location. The insurance company agreed that the leak needs to be found and said that exploring via jackhammer is part of the claim, so he came out about 5 days later and starting drilling and jackhammering.
First, he found the slab to be abnormally thick and was never able to find an edge or penetrate through. He jackhammered a small area, about 1x1 wide and about 3-4 inches deep, completely exposing the hot water line around all sides. At that the point the leak stopped again (I suspect from concrete dust falling into the sleeved area around the pipe). About 5 days after that, a wet spot appeared on the floor of the hole, but at no time has there been standing water. The spot grows when water is being used in the house, and then dries up fairly quickly. One day, the size of the spot was much larger than other days, even though the water usage in the house has been consistent, but the next day, the spot had almost completely dried and didnt reappear until about 8 hours after the last time water had been run.
Here are a couple of (possibly relevant) notes:
- Its hard to estimate the amount of water seeping, but if I had to take a wild guess, at most its about an ounce per hour, sometimes less.
- Before the jackhammering, I could visually see the water seeping. Now, the floor just gets damp.
- Its a two-story house, and this is (I believe) the first place the hot-water line comes up through the foundation. Thanks to our wonderful city codes, the two hot water heaters are in the attic.
Im at a loss for what to do next and am open to suggestions. Leak location is covered by insurance, so if we need to jackhammer more, Im open to it. Its been a month and Im ready to be done with this
The plumber did a pressure test on the line to about 65psi, but could not get a pressure drop. He also tried listening equipment, but could not locate the leak. He said that the owner of the plumbing company would come out the next day, which he did. The owner was finally able to get a slight pressure drop after increasing the pressure to about 120psi, but was also unable to locate the leak using the listening equipment. He said that he thought he leak was close to the surface and suggested that they jackhammer into the foundation, which I reluctantly agreed to.
Later that evening, the leak completely stopped, so I cancelled the appt to jackhammer and scheduled a service call with another plumber that had been referred. The leak started up again after about 3 days, and when the new plumber came out a few days after that, he was also unable to detect the leak location. The insurance company agreed that the leak needs to be found and said that exploring via jackhammer is part of the claim, so he came out about 5 days later and starting drilling and jackhammering.
First, he found the slab to be abnormally thick and was never able to find an edge or penetrate through. He jackhammered a small area, about 1x1 wide and about 3-4 inches deep, completely exposing the hot water line around all sides. At that the point the leak stopped again (I suspect from concrete dust falling into the sleeved area around the pipe). About 5 days after that, a wet spot appeared on the floor of the hole, but at no time has there been standing water. The spot grows when water is being used in the house, and then dries up fairly quickly. One day, the size of the spot was much larger than other days, even though the water usage in the house has been consistent, but the next day, the spot had almost completely dried and didnt reappear until about 8 hours after the last time water had been run.
Here are a couple of (possibly relevant) notes:
- Its hard to estimate the amount of water seeping, but if I had to take a wild guess, at most its about an ounce per hour, sometimes less.
- Before the jackhammering, I could visually see the water seeping. Now, the floor just gets damp.
- Its a two-story house, and this is (I believe) the first place the hot-water line comes up through the foundation. Thanks to our wonderful city codes, the two hot water heaters are in the attic.
Im at a loss for what to do next and am open to suggestions. Leak location is covered by insurance, so if we need to jackhammer more, Im open to it. Its been a month and Im ready to be done with this
![MEISTERFAKTUR drain snake 2.0 [50 FT] - with drill attachment - Ideal plumbing snake for sink and drain unblocking - Solid drain auger for real DYIs! (50 FT - 1/4 inch)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41VwmTiOsgL._SL500_.jpg)
