Things to Consider When Building Your Home to Prevent Future Slab Leaks

It can really troublesome to have slab leak in your home as they can be very costly to deal with, especially if left undetected for a long period of time. This problem can happen to everyone and despite your best efforts to prevent them, it may happen eventually. Of course preventing is a much better method than repairing. But pipes can leak even it is already made from the best material.
On of the most dangerous location of leak is on the foundation, as it can endanger the integrity of the building. A building with weak foundation can be threatened by sudden collapse. Especially if we consider the fact that slab leak can happen without knowledge due to the lack of signs and if there are signs, they can be quite subtle which make them left unnoticed.
Obviously, the best way to do is to ask your contractor to check your piping, especially on spring, as pipes integrity can be stressed during a cold winter. You should know the normal water volume of your pipes, when there is a sudden drop in water output, you may have a leak somewhere.
If your pipes are leaking, your only solution is to have them fixed, the best thing to do is to get an expert that have a good experience in repairing the leak without destroying too many slabs. During house construction, make sure that all pipes are assembled correctly and tightly. The cuts should be straight and clean to prevent unnecessary leaks. If you are living in an area with many earthquakes, then you may need an extra strong piping network to withstand sudden vibrations. If the soil in your location is unstable, even there is no earthquake, the foundation may shift and move which put some pressure on the pipes. So it may be necessary to fully strengthen the foundation to compensate for the unstable soil condition. These are things to consider when building your home, to prevent future slab leak problems.

The Importance of Accurate Slab Leak Detection

Slab leaks usually occur when there is a problem with plumbing pipes beneath your concrete slabs. It is considered as a serious problem because concrete, unlike normal ground can be difficult and expensive to deal with. If left untreated, water accumulation under concrete foundation can weaken the structure and degrades building quality, which in turn may endanger you and your family members. Worse, due to its location, leak under concrete slab can be hard to detect, as you won’t see any visible water accumulation. As the result, you may need to ask for experts help to do regular check on the situation of your foundation, before disaster strikes.
Luckily, we do have some ways to know whether leak may happen under the concrete slab. If you hear some water noises under the concrete slab, have higher-than-usual water bills, increasing humidity under your carpeting and warm spots, you may have leakage under the concrete slabs. If more than one symptom appears, immediately contact an expert. Slab leak usually happen when you have bad pipes, badly assembled fittings and pipes, unexpected electrolysis, rusts or small earthquakes.
Directly taking your concrete slabs apart to check the leak can be wasteful and costly. Make sure your contractors have tools designed to detect leakage under concrete without excavating the entire foundation. It would better if your contractor can guarantee that once the slab is excavated, they’ll find the leak. That way you can be protected financially, from incompetent contractors. If you are in the process of building your home, before assembling pipes under the slabs, make sure you understand the effect of electrolysis, Make sure your metal pipes won’t create electrical charges which make tiny holes. There are few methods to prevent it, ask your contractor for the best method for you.