Water Leak Detection in Mansfield, TX

Signs of a water leak in your home

A household water leak rarely shows up as a puddle in the middle of the floor. More often you notice a side effect, and the leak itself is a few feet away from where you're looking.

• Damp sink-base cabinetSwollen particleboard or a musty smell under the kitchen or bathroom sink.
• Wet floor near fixturesWater around a toilet base, dishwasher, washer or refrigerator.
• Higher water billMore gallons billed with no change in how the household uses water.
• Meter movementThe meter's leak indicator turns with every fixture off.
• Pressure changesA fixture that suddenly runs weak, or pressure that drops when another tap opens.
• Sound with nothing runningA hiss or trickle in a wall or behind an appliance.

Visible leaks vs hidden leaks

A visible leak, like a weeping shutoff valve or a dripping compression fitting under a sink, is usually easy to confirm. The harder cases are water leaks where the evidence and the source are in different places. Water follows pipes, studs and the top of the slab before it shows itself, so a wet baseboard in a hallway can come from a supply line behind a bathroom vanity.

That's why home water leak detection starts with the system, not the stain. Once the leaking section is known, the stain makes sense. If the source is concealed behind finishes, see hidden water leak detection.

Start with a water meter check

The quickest way to confirm a water leak is the meter. Turn off every faucet, appliance and the irrigation controller, then watch the meter for 15 to 30 minutes. Your Mansfield meter sits in a box near the curb, usually in line with an outdoor faucet.

• Meter moves, house valve open: water is leaving the system somewhere after the meter.
• Meter stops when you close the house shutoff: the leak is inside the house, which is what this page covers.
• Meter still moves with the house valve closed: the leak is outside, on the water service line or irrigation.

A slow drip at one faucet may not move the meter much. A leak you can hear usually will.

Common sources of indoor water leaks

The City of Mansfield notes that a leaky toilet flapper alone can waste up to 950 gallons a week, which is why a constantly refilling toilet is worth fixing even when nothing is visibly wet.

Water leak detection methods

The method depends on where the suspect pipe is and what covers it.

• Pressure testing isolates sections of the plumbing. A section that loses pressure on the gauge is the leaking one.
• Acoustic listening follows the sound of escaping water through walls and floors.
• Thermal imaging picks up hot-water leaks and the cooling effect of evaporating moisture behind drywall.
• Tracer gas is used on drained lines when the leak is too quiet or too deep to hear.
• Moisture meters map how far water has travelled through drywall, baseboards and subfloor.

What happens during a water leak detection visit

1. Questions firstWhen it started, which rooms, the bill history, and whether you've tried the meter test.
2. Confirm the leakMeter and pressure readings confirm water loss and show how fast it's happening.
3. IsolateFixture shutoffs and the main valve separate fixtures, hot and cold sides, and inside from outside.
4. LocateThe leaking section is pinpointed with the appropriate method and marked.
5. ExplainYou get the location, the likely cause and what the repair involves.

When to call for water leak detection

Call when the meter test shows water loss, when a damp area keeps coming back after you dry it, or when you can hear water with nothing running. If water is actively spreading, close the main shutoff first. If the leak turns out to be under the concrete, the next step is slab leak detection.