Under the concrete
Slab Leak Detection for Boise Homes on Concrete
A lot of older Boise houses sit over crawl spaces or basements, so slab leaks surprise people here. But newer subdivisions, garages turned into rooms, and many additions are on concrete, and that's where water lines get buried.
Your call is handed to a Boise plumbing office, and the hand-off can leave a short silence. Leave the call open until a person comes on.
First question: is your house on a slab?
If there's no crawl-space hatch and no foundation vents, the floors sit right on concrete, and the water heater's lines come up through the floor, you're probably on a slab. Plenty of Boise houses are mixed: the original part on a crawl space, a later addition or converted garage on concrete. If your whole house sits over a crawl space, crawl space leaks is the better place to start.
What a slab leak looks like from above
On the hot side, people notice a warm spot on tile or wood, or a water heater that seems to run more than it should. Others hear water running with everything off, find a damp carpet tack strip along an outside wall, see cracked tile with moisture under it, or spot water seeping where the slab meets the garage or patio.
Callers put it plainly: "the water came up through the floor," or "do you have a machine that can detect leaks in pipes under a foundation?"
A meter experiment: hot side or cold side
With every fixture off and the meter moving, close the cold-water inlet on top of the water heater and watch the meter again. If it stops, the leak is on the hot side. That's useful to know before anyone arrives: hot lines expand and contract and can wear where they touch concrete, and a warm leak is easier to see on a thermal camera.
If the meter keeps moving with the heater's inlet closed, the leak is on the cold side or outside the house. Run the house-versus-yard test to tell which.
How the spot under concrete gets found
The technician isolates each branch to see which one loses pressure, then listens through the slab with acoustic gear. Hot lines often show up on a thermal camera as a warm patch. Sometimes a section is pressure-tested with air. The aim is a mark within a small area, so concrete is cut once.
Water where it shouldn't be?
Short pause, then a person.
Repair paths
A spot repair opens the slab at the mark, fixes the pipe and patches the concrete. It's direct, but it means cutting the floor, and flooring has to be lifted.
A reroute abandons the leaking section and runs new pipe through walls or the attic instead. With PEX this is common, and it can avoid breaking the slab at all.
Replacing a whole branch makes sense when the pipe has failed in more than one place or is near the end of its life.
Before you hire anyone
Ask how the company decides between a spot repair and a reroute, and who handles the concrete and flooring. Ask how locating is billed. Confirm their Idaho license through DOPL and their insurance, and ask whether the repair needs a permit.
Your call is handed to a Boise plumbing office, and the hand-off can leave a short silence. Leave the call open until a person comes on.
Questions about slab leaks
Can a slab leak damage the foundation?
Water running under a slab for a long time can wash out the soil underneath. That's a good reason to get it located instead of waiting.
Is a reroute better than breaking the slab?
It depends on where the leak is, the pipe material and the layout of the house. Ask the company to explain both options for your house.
Will insurance cover it?
Policies often cover access and tear-out for a sudden leak but not the pipe itself, and many exclude slow leaks. Call your insurer and ask.
Do new Boise homes get slab leaks?
Less often than old ones, but fittings fail and nails or screws sometimes hit a line during construction.
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