Leak Detection in Winston-Salem, NC

First, make sure it's a leak

You can check this yourself before calling anyone. Turn off every faucet, appliance and irrigation zone, then look at your water meter. If the dial or low-flow indicator keeps moving, water is going somewhere. A toilet with a worn flapper is a common culprit, so put a few drops of food coloring in the tank and see whether color shows up in the bowl without flushing.

Common signs of a hidden leak

• A water bill that rises with no change in use
• Hissing or running water when nothing is on
• Warm spots on a floor, which can point to a hot water line in a slab
• Stains, bubbling paint or musty smells on walls or ceilings
• A wet strip in the yard between the meter and the house
• Water pressure that has dropped over time

How a plumber narrows it down

1. Isolation. Shutting off sections of the system shows whether the loss is inside, outside, hot side or cold side.
2. Pressure testing. A gauge on a closed section shows whether it holds pressure.
3. Acoustic listening. Sensitive microphones pick up the sound of water escaping under floors or underground.
4. Thermal imaging. A thermal camera can show the temperature pattern of a hot water leak behind a wall or under a slab.
5. Line tracing. Locating the pipe route helps match a sound to an exact spot.

Older pipe and the service line

About 43% of Winston-Salem homes were built before 1980, and older galvanized steel supply pipe corrodes from the inside and can start leaking at threads and fittings. If you aren't sure what your service line is made of, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities keeps a service line inventory at cityofws.org/pipes and asks customers to report their private line material. Customers with verified lead or galvanized lines are asked to wait for the utility's replacement plan and financing announcement.

The utility doesn't publish an exact boundary between its part of the service line and the owner's. If a leak looks like it is near the meter, contact the utility before any digging.

What affects the cost

The size of the house, whether the leak is in a wall, slab or yard, how many tests it takes to narrow down, and whether the repair is quoted together with the search all change the price.