TSBPE #M-43891
Leak Detection in Austin — Acoustic & Thermal Imaging for Slab-on-Grade Homes
More than 80% of Austin homes sit on slab-on-grade foundations, which means a hidden water leak doesn’t drip into a basement — it migrates through concrete, lifts flooring, and rots framing before you ever see a wet spot. Austin Plumbing Pros uses acoustic listening discs, thermal imaging, and tracer-gas testing to pinpoint slab and wall-cavity leaks without busting up your floor. Same-day appointments from $189.
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Most pre-1990 slab leaks in central Austin are not pipe deterioration — they’re clay-shift related. Houston Black clay swells 4-6 inches between a wet spring and a dry August. A copper supply line tied between two fixed points and the slab fatigues at the fitting and finally cracks. Knowing that lets us predict where to look first: at the slab penetrations where the line transitions from buried to vertical, not in the middle of a long run.
Three Signs You Have A Hidden Leak In An Austin Slab Home
The water bill jumped 30% with no change in usage. The hot side of the slab feels warm in one spot when the heat hasn’t been on. You hear running water with everything turned off (open the meter box at the sidewalk and watch the dial — if it spins, there’s flow). Any one of these warrants a leak detection call before you pay another month’s bill or start losing flooring. Travis Heights and Tarrytown homeowners often catch it from the bill because they’re attentive. North Austin new-build owners often miss it for months because the slab is large and the flooring is luxury vinyl plank, which hides water until the subfloor swells.
How We Find A Leak Without Tearing Up Your House
Step one: pressure isolation. We cap the main, pressurize the system to 80 PSI, and watch the gauge — if it drops, the leak is in the supply lines, not a faucet drip. Step two: acoustic listening with a Fisher XLT-30 against the slab in a quiet house — a pressurized leak makes a 600-800 Hz hiss we can pinpoint to within 12 inches. Step three: thermal imaging with a FLIR E96 — a hot-water slab leak shows as a heat signature radiating outward; cold-water leaks show as a thermal sink. Step four (if 1-3 are inconclusive): nitrogen tracer gas, which we pressurize into the line and sniff at floor cracks with a hydrogen detector. The full battery costs $389 and locates the leak with surgical accuracy. We mark the spot in chalk on the floor and quote the repair.
Slab Repair Options Once The Leak Is Found
Spot repair: jackhammer a 2×2-foot section, repair the line, re-pour. $1,200-$1,800. Cheapest but invasive. Recommended only if the leak is in an easy-access room (laundry, mechanical closet). Re-route: abandon the leaking line in the slab, run new PEX through the attic to the same fixture. $850-$1,650 per fixture re-routed. The smart choice for most kitchen and bath leaks because the slab stays intact. Full repipe: if the home has galvanized or polybutylene throughout, do a whole-house PEX-A re-pipe and never worry again. $7,200-$11,800 for a typical 2,400 sqft Austin home. We give you all three options with photos and let you choose.
Pool, Irrigation, And Service-Line Leaks — Different Diagnostic, Same Truck
Pool plumbing leaks show as constant fill activity in the auto-fill or a drop in level overnight. We pressure-test return lines and skimmer lines separately and use a dye-tracer at the main drain. Irrigation leaks under the lawn show as wet spots that never dry; we use a soil probe and an acoustic ground mic. Service line leaks between the meter and the house show as a soggy strip of grass and a meter that won’t stop spinning — we can locate them with the ground mic and quote a trenchless pull-through replacement with PEX-A. Austin Water bills any usage between the meter and the house to you, so a service line leak is bleeding money daily.
Why You Want Detection Before Insurance Inspection
Texas homeowner policies require you to mitigate active leaks within a reasonable window — usually 72 hours from discovery — or the carrier can deny the damage claim. Calling a licensed plumber, having a written detection report with timestamps, and getting the leak stopped puts the paperwork on your side. We email a PDF report with the FLIR images, the meter readings, and the repair scope. State Farm, USAA, and Allstate adjusters in Austin all accept our format.
Transparent Austin Plumbing Pricing
Service calls from $79 daytime · $189 after-hours (waived if you authorize the repair) · Free written quote on jobs over $500
Five Promises We Keep On Every Austin Job
Written estimate before we cut
Every Austin job gets a flat-rate quote texted to your phone before any drywall or pipe is touched. No surprise invoices, no nibble-charges. 📞 (512) 555-PLBR
Master plumber on every truck
TSBPE M-43891. The lead tech who arrives at your house is a Master or Journeyman, never apprentice-only. Verify any Austin plumber’s license at tsbpe.texas.gov. 📞 Verify license
Two-year parts-and-labor warranty
Repair fails inside 24 months? We come back free, parts and labor. That’s twice the typical Austin trade warranty and we mean it. 📞 Warranty claim
Every permit, pulled and closed
City of Austin, Travis County, Williamson County, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown — we know every jurisdiction and pull every permit. 📞 Same-day permit
Honest repair-vs-replace math
If the cheaper fix is the right answer, we tell you. We don’t run mandatory membership clubs. We don’t manufacture urgency to upsell a whole-house repipe when a $145 cartridge swap is what you need. 📞 Get a quote
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is leak detection in Austin?
$189 for acoustic + visual diagnostic on accessible lines. $389 for full battery (pressure isolation + acoustic + thermal + tracer gas). Repair quote provided in writing before any work.
Can you find a slab leak without breaking the floor?
Yes — that’s the entire point of the four-method battery. We locate to within 12 inches before any concrete is cut, and 70% of the time we recommend re-routing through the attic to avoid cutting the slab at all.
My water bill doubled — is it definitely a leak?
Almost always, but not always plumbing — sometimes it’s irrigation, a stuck toilet flapper, or an HVAC condensate pump dumping into a drain. We run the meter test first; if the meter spins with everything off, it’s a supply leak. If it doesn’t, the issue is a fixture or irrigation.
How long does detection take?
Most jobs take 90 minutes to 3 hours depending on house size and accessibility. We schedule same-day where possible.
Will my insurance cover slab leak repair?
Most Texas HO-3 policies cover the resulting water damage but not the leak repair itself. The line item we provide in our report separates detection (often covered) from line replacement (usually not) so the adjuster can process it cleanly.
Do you do gas leak detection too?
Yes — same battery but with a combustible-gas detector (RKI Eagle 2) instead of an acoustic disc. Call Texas Gas Service first if you smell gas.
Can a slab leak damage my foundation?
Long-term yes — sustained moisture under a slab can expand the clay subsoil and cause differential heave. Most Austin slab leaks don’t go on long enough to do structural damage, but they will ruin flooring and framing in weeks.
More Austin Plumbing Services
Emergency Plumber Austin · Drain Cleaning · Water Heater Repair · Sewer Line Repair
← Back to Austin Plumbing Pros home · Or call (512) 555-PLBR for same-day service
About Austin Plumbing Pros
Austin Plumbing Pros is the city’s premium master-licensed plumbing operation, run out of three depots — South Slaughter Lane, Anderson Mill, and East Riverside — so a TSBPE-licensed plumber is on-site for most calls within 35-60 minutes of dispatch anywhere inside the 130 loop. Every emergency truck carries a Master or Journeyman as the lead tech (never apprentice-only), the standard inventory truck stocks Rheem, A.O. Smith, and Bradford White water heaters plus Moen, Delta, and Kohler cartridges and aerators, and we pull permits with the City of Austin, Travis County, Williamson County, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, and Manor jurisdictions every business day. We’ve spent enough hours pulling cast iron out of pre-1980 Hyde Park backyards and chasing slab leaks under 1990s North Austin builds that we know which symptom is the easy fix and which is buying time. When you call, a real Austin dispatcher picks up. When the truck arrives, the Master plumber writes you a flat-rate estimate before any drywall or pipe is touched. When the job’s done, you get a two-year parts-and-labor warranty. That’s the entire operation in three sentences.
📞 Same-day service in any Austin ZIP — (512) 555-PLBR · Master licensed TSBPE #M-43891 · TRRC #LP-2089 · $2M general liability · Two-year warranty · Free written quote on any job over $500.