A slab leak is a water line leaking under the concrete floor, and in Las Vegas, where nearly every house sits on a slab over caliche, the water has nowhere to go but out through your flooring.
- Signs
- Warm spots, wet flooring, a meter that moves with water off.
- Who fixes it
- A leak detection plumber finds and repairs the line.
- Our part
- Flooring, base and walls dried and rebuilt.
- Call
- (702) 602-6461 to check the damage.
Why slab leaks show up the way they do
Caliche, the hard cemented layer under much of the valley, is the top reason Las Vegas homes rarely have basements. Homes here are built on slabs, and the water lines run under or through that slab. When a line leaks, water has to go somewhere. It pushes up through cracks and joints in the concrete and into the flooring above.
A hot water line leak can make a spot on the floor feel warm. A cold line leak just shows as wet flooring, swelling base or a musty smell that will not go away.
Signs worth checking yourself
- A warm spot on tile or wood that is not near a heat source.
- Carpet that is damp with no spill.
- Base or the bottom of a wall that swells or stains.
- The sound of running water when everything is off.
- A water bill that jumps without a reason.
The meter test. Turn off every faucet and appliance, including the ice maker and irrigation. Look at your water meter. Check it again in an hour without using any water. If it moved, water is leaving somewhere.
Ground movement makes it worse
Parts of the valley have a history of ground movement. Groundwater pumping caused land to sink and fissures to open, and areas near North Las Vegas Airport sank up to 2.6 feet from 1963 to 1980, according to 1989 state data. Expansive clay near Cheyenne Avenue and Simmons Street in North Las Vegas was flagged in a 2018 engineering report, and an engineer's advice there was simple. Keep water away from the clay.
A slab leak puts water exactly where it should not be. That is one more reason not to let a slow one run.
What happens after the plumber
Once the line is fixed or rerouted, the floor and walls still hold the water that came up. Tile on a slab can trap moisture under it. Wood floors cup. We take readings across the slab and the walls next to it, pull the flooring that cannot be saved, and dry until the readings match the dry standard. Do not sand cupped boards until moisture is back to normal, or they crown later.
Where we do this
North Las Vegas, Aliante, Sun City Aliante, Eldorado, Villages at Tule Springs, Valley Vista, Craig Ranch Park Area, Centennial Hills, Las Vegas, Summerlin, Henderson.