Homeowner's Guide for Water Leak Detection

For many homeowners, the first sign that there’s a leak in the house is that signature “drip, drip, drip,” noise.

Many people assume that the real problem here is just trying to get a good night’s sleep while a leak drips somewhere in the house.

The reality, however, is that a leak can turn into a real problem for a home. Here we ask and answer the important questions for why a leak can be a threat to your home.

Why Is A Leak A Big Deal?

Most people tend to dismiss a leak because it feels more like a flaw than a problem. If your sink is working, and it’s just a drip of water that’s the problem, then that’s not broken plumbing that needs fixing, is it?

A leak can also be costing you money even before any serious break occurs. A leak can drip out between 7.6 and 76 cubic meters of water annually.

You may not have used it, but you’re still going to pay for it every month when that water bill arrives.

How Do You Find A Leak?

The most fortunate homeowners will be able to find their leak on a faucet and use a wrench to tighten the problem away.

Others won’t be so lucky, and will hear a leak, but may not be able to see it. This is where some exploratory work comes in.

Leaks can appear on other plumbing fixtures like toilets, showers and water heaters in the basement.

They might appear on the water pipe that carries fluids up to your taps, or they may be on the sewage pipes that carry waste away.

Check the plumbing under your sink, and if you have access to crawl spaces that let you inspect pipes, give them a look.

Also, keep an eye out for early signs of water penetration in the walls or ceilings that have pipes running through them.

How Do You Avoid An Expensive Repair?

As always, the saying “prevention is the best medicine” applies to a lot of things, and that includes big, messy, expensive repair jobs on your plumbing.

You don’t have to wait until you see or hear a leak to take action.

Occasional inspections of your plumbing may spot problems like dripping water long before it

turns into a regular leak, and the earlier you catch it, the better.

You can also go easier on your pipes.

If you like showers with high-pressure water, that puts a constant strain on your pipes that may shorten their lifespan.

Switching down to a lower pressure can extend the durability and reliability of your pipes.