A spinning meter with every tap in the house shut

The meter still turns after every fixture is closed

The meter still turns after every fixture is closed, ice maker valved off, and irrigation isolated. The City of Mansfield delivers purchased surface water from Lake Varner, and that water still has to pass the meter. We watch the analog sweep or the digital 1-gallon ticks for a full minute. Movement is a leak until isolation says yard or house.

You see the low-flow star or the sweep hand creep with no tap open. You hear water in a quiet room. The bill jumped with no extra people in the house. A warm stripe shows on tile or vinyl. Damp soil sits along a slab edge. The hot water heater cycles with no draw. Rust colored water shows at a seldom-used tub after the line has sat.

If you smell gas or suspect a gas leak, go outside immediately and call 911 – this is a serious emergency that needs urgent attention from the gas company.

House isolation versus the yard line

The house valve is closed and the meter still turns, or the meter finally stops. That reading splits yard from house. We close the house shutoff after the meter and watch the register again. If the meter stops, the loss is on the house side, often under the slab on later stock. If the meter keeps turning, the loss is on the yard line between meter and foundation. Georgia Highway 11 lots with long services pick up yard-side losses more than short downtown laterals. A night flood still gets this isolation on our emergency plumbing sequence.

Newborn sits in Newton County. The Town of Newborn Water System purchases from Newton County Water System. A spinning meter on a late 19th and early 20th century house in the Newborn Historic District at Georgia Highway 142 and Johnson Street is more often a crawl or yard line than a slab leak.

You watch the meter stop after the house valve. You watch it keep turning with the house valve closed. Water weeps at a meter box. Soft ground follows the service path. The interior floor stays cool while the yard is wet. Pressure at hose bibs stays while kitchen taps starve. A yard puddle forms with no sprinkler running.

Pressure and hold readings on a closed system

The closed system will not hold pressure. We cap the house, connect a gauge at a hose bib or laundry shutoff, pump to a set pressure, and watch the needle. A fast drop of several psi in under a minute is a large opening. A slow bleed over several minutes is a pinhole under the slab. We repeat on hot and cold separately when the manifold allows. We do not open concrete on a single glance at the gauge.

The gauge falls several psi in under a minute. It holds on cold and drops on hot. It holds on hot and drops on cold. The water heater T&P stays quiet while the cold gauge falls. A toilet supply stop hisses after you close the angle stop. A washing machine box weeps during the hold. You hear a faint hiss at a slab crack during the test.

Heat maps, listening, and the cut we still delay

Thermal scan across the slab

The floor is warm in a strip with no sun on it. A supply leak under slab warms that path. We scan the floor after a short hot run and again on cold. A stable warm band over a line route is the candidate. Wet red Gwinnett clay around the slab edge can hold moisture and confuse a surface damp reading, so we do not treat a wet edge as the leak point without the thermal band and the hold test agreeing.

You feel a warm path across kitchen vinyl. The slab is cool everywhere except one bath run. Tile is warm with no sun on it. Condensation sits on a baseboard above the band. A musty strip of carpet follows one run. Flooring cups along that run. A bath vanity is warm at the kick while the hall is not.

Listening at the slab, hose bibs, and the meter

A hiss at the slab or at one hose bib with every tap shut is the next mark. We use a listening pickup at the slab, at hose bibs, and at the meter coupling. Peak sound under a room, not at the street, keeps the job on the house side. Peak sound at the meter with a quiet slab points to the yard. We mark the peak, then we still cut only after the hold test matches that mark.

Covington sits in Newton County. City of Covington water is wholesale from Newton County Water System. Aging underground utilities around the Newton County Historic Courthouse mean a spinning meter on Emory Street or US Highway 278 can be city-side or yard-side, so we isolate the house before any slab talk in Covington.

You hear a hiss at a closet flange. Sound shows at one hose bib and not the other. Upstairs is quiet and the slab is not. Sound rises when we bump pressure. The gauge falls with no sound, which means the leak is far from the pickup. Sound sits at the washer box. Sound vanishes when you close a branch stop.

Spot repair, reroute, or a whole-house repipe

One wet band is not the same job as two. A single pinhole on an otherwise sound copper run can take a spot repair and a small slab opening. Multiple wet bands, mixed joints at an addition, or galvanized still in the slab push a reroute through walls or attic rather than a second cut. When the house is all original steel under a later pour, we talk whole-house repipe instead of chasing pins.

Porterdale sits in Newton County. City of Porterdale Water and Sewer purchases from the Newton County Board of Commissioners. Mill houses from about 1871 to 1951 in the historic district on the Yellow River along Main Street are not typical later slabs, so slab leak calls in Porterdale more often sit on later infill.

You have one thermal band and one sound peak. You have two bands on two different runs. Pinholes show at a copper-to-PEX transition under the addition. Galvanized threads crumble at a slab sleeve. A prior patch is wet again. Pressure is low at every fixture, not one. Rust color returns after any rest period.

When a slab leak is really a pipe repair job

Crawl space leaks that feel like a slab leak

The floor feels wet but the house sits on a crawl space or pier and beam. Early 20th century houses commonly sit that way. A wet crawl, a split in an unheated run after a freeze, or a dripping galvanized joint can raise a bill and cool a floor without any slab. We look under the house before we talk about concrete. If the leak is in the crawl, Mansfield Plumbing Specialists treats that as pipe repair, not a slab cut.

You see standing water on crawl vapor barrier. Drips hit a beam. Pipe is split at a rim joist. A hose bib still weeps after a freeze thaw. Subfloor is soft in a bath with a dry slab. Insulation is stained under a kitchen. You smell damp soil, not wet concrete.

Mixed joints at a later addition

The addition bath is wet and the original kitchen is not. A later addition spliced onto original pipe is a job we take. The joint may sit in a wall, in the crawl, or under a new slab pour against the old house. If the bad joint is accessible, we treat it as pipe repair. If it is under the new pour, it stays on this slab sequence. Georgia Highway 213 houses with side additions get this check before any saw.

The leak shows only when the addition bath runs. The original kitchen stays dry. You see a PEX or PVC coupling at the rim. Pressure drops only on the addition branch. A cleanout in the old crawl is wet and the addition slab is not. Paint peels on the addition baseboard. Original galvanized still feeds the addition through one reducer.

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How freeze, heat, and clay load a slab supply

Freeze pattern in unheated crawls, attics, and hose bibs can split pipe; on a slab house the split is more often at a bib or an attic, and a true under-slab leak still shows on the meter after thaw. Hot humid summers raise irrigation and hot-water demand, and the year-round no-irrigation window from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. can hide a slab leak until we isolate the yard and watch the meter. Gwinnett series clay is kaolinitic with low shrink-swell, so it does not heave the slab, but wet red clay still slows drainage around the pour and keeps a leak wet at the edge. We read the meter and the hold, not the mud.

Questions on the tests before anyone cuts

What does a plumber near me check first when the floor feels warm?

We check the meter with every fixture closed. A turning register with a warm floor strip is a leak until isolation says it is the yard. Next we close the house shutoff. If the meter stops, the loss is on the house side and we move to a pressure hold on cold, then hot. Thermal scan follows the hold so we do not chase a sun patch. Listening at the slab and hose bibs marks a peak. We cut only when meter, isolation, hold, heat, and sound agree. Same-day diagnosis is that order, any hour we are called.

How do you tell a house slab leak from a yard leak?

Close every fixture. Watch the meter. Close the valve on the house side of the meter and watch again. Meter stops: house side, and on later slab stock that often means under the concrete. Meter keeps turning: yard line from meter to foundation. We do not cut a slab for a yard leak. A pressure hold on the house plumbing after isolation confirms the house side is tight or not. Soft ground along the service, a wet meter box, and a quiet slab with a turning meter are yard signs. A warm interior band with a stopped meter after isolation is house.

Can a later addition spliced onto original pipe leak under the slab?

Yes. A later addition often ties into galvanized or copper with a reducer or a mixed joint. If the addition sits on a new slab against a crawl house, that joint can end up in the pour. We isolate the addition branch if there is a stop, then hold pressure on that branch. A drop only on the addition side keeps the cut small. If the joint is in the old crawl, we treat it as pipe repair and leave the slab alone. The tests support a small opening only when the branch hold and the thermal band sit on the same run.

Questions on spot repair, reroute, and repipe

When is a whole-house repipe the finding instead of a spot patch?

When we mark more than one wet band, when galvanized is still under the pour, or when a prior patch is wet again on the same run. One pinhole on sound copper can take a spot repair. Two or more failures, mixed-era joints in the slab, or rust color at several fixtures after rest point to a system, not a pin. A reroute through walls or attic avoids a second slab cut. A whole-house repipe is the call when the original steel is the remaining supply. We show the hold drops and the scan before that talk.

Do early crawl space houses need a slab cut?

Most do not. Early 20th century houses in this town commonly sit on crawl space or pier and beam. A wet floor, a high bill, and a spinning meter there usually mean a crawl joint, a split after a freeze, or a yard line. We go under the house first. If we find the leak on a beam or at a galvanized union, we repair the pipe and leave the concrete. A slab cut is for later slab-on-grade houses where isolation and hold prove the loss is under the pour. Downtown grid homes near the depot follow that crawl-first order.

What if the leak is on the hot water heater run under the slab?

We isolate hot from cold. A hold that drops only on hot, with a thermal band on the kitchen or bath run, points to the hot line under the slab. The heater itself can wait; we are not replacing a unit for a slab pin. A tankless conversion on a tank-sized supply can add noise and pressure drop without a slab leak, so we still run isolation. If hot is the only failing side, a reroute of that run is often enough. Cold remaining tight keeps the rest of the house on the original pipe.

Reach out to us for assistance.

Zip codes we serve: 30055