Leak under slab that cannot be located? (for sale, homes)

[EcoDeb]

Run Run Run unless you want to buy a problem and pay $ $ $. Try to find a pier and beam with access to plumbing. IMO plumbing in slabs with very expansive soils can be a Big Problem. Our soil report came back and strongly recommended a pier and beam, that is what we built. The crawl space, is also great for a Tornado shelter.

[CollieMan]

Originally Posted by aljka

It was found during inspection. Water meter is still moving when all water is shut off. They called plumber to locate the leak and plumber could not "because it is too small"

Sprinkler system, toilet flappers, water heater refilling.

[Katana49]

I definitely would pass on that home. You might get lucky, the leak gets worse and they figure out it's near an exterior wall or something and doesn't cost much to fix.



Or, you could be like a friend of mine who had a leak directly in the middle of her living room in the middle of the house, and they had to break up a huge portion of her hardwood floors, jackhammer through the slab and then break up the floor in a line going to an exterior wall, as they needed to reroute the line for some reason. I believe the cost for her was $12k.

[turf3]

Well, my understanding is that current code forbids pipe joints under the slab, that all joints have to be brought up above the slab. So if code were followed, leaks under the slab should be quite rare.


As for the specific house, you should run away unless you can get a huge reduction in price. (You can contemplate, for example, that the hardwood floor or expensive ceramic tile has to be chiseled up, then a huge hole jackhammered into your slab, the problem fixed, then paying to restore it as best as possible, and then hold your breath and hope that it was just a small leak for a short time and you're not going to have foundation issues in that area after a year or two.)


But good luck finding a pier and beam house anywhere in DFW built after 1970.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by aljka

Did your home insurance cover?

No. It was deemed to be due to shifting soils.

[naterator]

My house was built in 1990. I had a fairly severe slab leak several years ago. Like someone else said, my dog started laying in a certain spot, where the warm water was pooling under the foundation.

I didn't want to destroy my hardwoods, so the plumber had to dig a tunnel under the house, in order to get at the leak.

This was fairly expensive.

[ea0337]

Originally Posted by EcoDeb

Try to find a pier and beam with access to plumbing. IMO plumbing in slabs with very expansive soils can be a Big Problem. Our soil report came back and strongly recommended a pier and beam, that is what we built. The crawl space, is also great for a Tornado shelter.

General question: how common are pier and beam foundations in the DFW area?

[NP78]

Originally Posted by ea0337

General question: how common are pier and beam foundations in the DFW area?

Very common in older homes in certain areas, very rare in newer homes (unless custom built). Overall they are a very small percentage of the housing stock since most of DFW has been developed over the last few decades.

[Tyryztoll]

When it comes to home buying trust your instincts. If it sounds scary it probably is scary....or it will be scary at some point. You can either roll the dice and possibly pay the price or you can walk and buy one of the other 50,000 homes in DFW that doesn’t have this problem. It would be a no brainer for me.

[EcoDeb]

Originally Posted by ea0337

General question: how common are pier and beam foundations in the DFW area?

They were the "norm" back in the day. Search Ebby.com as they have pier and beam as a search option. Majority of newer pier and beam homes are custom. I know there are some older homes in both McKinney and Denton. GOOD LUCK finding your new home!