Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Many homes are built on top of a concrete SLAB which then have all sorts of mechanical systems installed below that SLAB. Among these systems are their water pipes which sometimes leak.
I suspect the term you are inquiring about is really "under slab leak". Generally this means that plumbing that runs under the slab (the foundation in homes w/o basements) is broken.
The only ways to fix such a problem are expensive. The most common way is to jack hammer out the slab and expose the busted plumbing. In situations where that means that the finish flooring is so costly to repair the alternate is to cut off the pipe(s) before / after the enter/exit the slab and then reroute them. This often involves building out some kind of false wall to hide the pipes.
It generally means a pipe (such as a water pipe) leak from a pipe that was buried (as in covered with cement) when the house foundation (slab) was poured.
Very typical construction where/when no basement. Basically a frame is built. Piping laid and pipe end popping up where needed like sinks, toilets, etc. Then the frame is filled with poured concrete thus the pipes are covered.
To repair, the slab must be jack hammered out over where the leaky pipe is and the pipe sealed/repaired. This means any flooring over the slab has to come up first.
I suspect the term you are inquiring about is really "under slab leak". Generally this means that plumbing that runs under the slab (the foundation in homes w/o basements) is broken.
The only ways to fix such a problem are expensive. The most common way is to jack hammer out the slab and expose the busted plumbing. In situations where that means that the finish flooring is so costly to repair the alternate is to cut off the pipe(s) before / after the enter/exit the slab and then reroute them. This often involves building out some kind of false wall to hide the pipes.
Big mess and big money...
Don't even pay attention to this post. Find a good plumber who will tunnel under your slab and fix the problem without busting up your slab.
Don't know the cost in your area but here they charge around $100 a foot to tunnel plus repairs.
It may be different up north but down here nobody hammers a slab anymore. They just fine the pipe at the manifold, cut it off, and run a PEX line overhead under the insulation and drop down the appropriate wall. A slab leak can also indicate a slab that the moisture barrier either wasn't installed correctly or was damaged during the pour and subsurface water is coming up thru the foundation causing mold on flooring. The best remedy for this is to find the source of the water and relieve it. Most will install a french drain for a fix.
So sewer / drains can be made to magically flow upwards??
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrapperL
It may be different up north but down here nobody hammers a slab anymore. They just fine the pipe at the manifold, cut it off, and run a PEX line overhead under the insulation and drop down the appropriate wall. A slab leak can also indicate a slab that the moisture barrier either wasn't installed correctly or was damaged during the pour and subsurface water is coming up thru the foundation causing mold on flooring. The best remedy for this is to find the source of the water and relieve it. Most will install a french drain for a fix.
So sewer / drains can be made to magically flow upwards??
The OP appears to be in Chicago, IL area as per their profile which is the land of basements. If it is a basement home, and a sewer issue that becomes a big expense, they can use a macerating pump if that method is cheaper and practical for the situation. A macerating pump is used to lift both gray water (sinks, tubs, etc.) and black water (porcelain thrones, library chair, all A.K.A. for toilet) to an upper level main or other drain point.
It is also possible that the other issue is what TrapperL is inferring to with a subsurface water problem rising into a basement. In the land of basements generally the only plumbing not exposed in a basement are the main water and sewer lines coming into the home.
The OP needs to provide a little more information to determine what they are talking about so other posters can provide more accurate answers.
Don't even pay attention to this post. Find a good plumber who will tunnel under your slab and fix the problem without busting up your slab.
Don't know the cost in your area but here they charge around $100 a foot to tunnel plus repairs.
busta
Since you posted such a rude post that is the usual bad advice I will take the time to correct you at the expense of my reputation. First off Chet is one of the few on the HOME forum who posts quality advice. I'm saying that and I don't even know him.
Now to pick apart your hogwash. So your good Plumber will tunnel under the slab and fix the leak. Do you mean he will dig a hole and crawl into this tunnel to get at the leak? Do you mean he will run a pipe camera through the existing pipes to find a leak. Sorry to busta your bubble but those cameras are only used in waste lines that I know of, not feed lines. And even if this camera found the leak, the slab would still have to be jack hammered to get at it. Unless of course you pick up a few day laborers from the Home Junkpo parking lots to dig it for you. Even then. I don't know a Plumber alive who will crawl through a dug out tunnel under a slab. Plumbers don't get dirty....you ever meet one?
By the ridiculous $100 LF you guessed above I assume you mean pipe cameras. Why bother? Well I take that back. Finding the leak more precisely could limit the area to a smaller area of slab that had to be jack hammered up.
To the OP: Go with Chet's advice in post #3 which is the correct one.
So sewer / drains can be made to magically flow upwards??
It's called capillary action. That's why all slab foundations have a moisture barrier or they have issues with water migrating into the house. I've seen it so bad that once we removed the vinyl flooring and cleaned the slab of the glue we had ponding water in the house. What was more amazing is that I tested it for chlorine and it came out positive. A static test and a 120lb pressure test of the potable water side revealed no leaks. I decided to install sight pipes in the yard to look for underground water and we never got the first one in, they yard was a lake after breaking the surface. Seems there was an 8" main line break that the utility company decided not to fix months previously. This particular house was sitting at the end and edge of an underground clay strata that was acting as a subterranean dam. Once we cut it open with a backhoe, it drained for 3 months before we could finish up. It ran like a creek all that time. There's also a reason for the engineers specs on slabs to use a 17PI or less backfill under a slab and that's to keep capillary action to a minimum.
Mod Cut
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 12-23-2011 at 09:31 PM..
Reason: Personal Attack
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hmm...
