Leaking Water Lines Under Foundation

K

KS1866

100+ Posts
So I've heard running water in my kitchen for a couple of days even when no water should be running. I finally called a plumber Tuesday and he said I had a leak in a pipe under the foundation. Yesterday he jackhammers my kitchen floor away and finds 2 busted copper pipes. 12 hours later he's fixed both pipes - one having to be rerouted to the roof - and I've got a $2500 bill. Does that bill sound right?
 
Just to clarify, did he pour back the concrete? If so, then it may be a little high, but its pretty close. Slab leaks are a *****, and going into the slab is alot of work.

If he got you back in bidness in 12 hours, its a pretty fair price.
 
The guy filled in the holes in the floor, but didn't re-lay the tile. I also have to get somebody to fill in the holes in the sheetrock he had to make. My deductable is $2700, so I probably won't make a claim, even though the additional expense of the tile/sheetrock work is covered. Long story short, don't have pipes burst under your foundation.
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We had a plumber replace some pipes under our bedroom, and your experience mirrors ours. It sucks to pay that much and just have em say "Alright, have fun redoing the stuff we didn't fix" but thats the way it is I guess...
 
Did they wait for everything to dry out prior to wanting to doing the finishing? My BIL in FL just got hit big-time on this - the contractor wanted to fill in prior to dry-out. Turned out, there was still a leak under there.
 
i don't think you'd want a plumber to do your drywall repair. it's just out of their area of expertise. if it's just drywall repair and tiles, time to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself. fixing drywall holes shouldn't take you more than a day. tile is just as easy.
 
"This might be covered by your homeowner's insurance"

Most policies won't cover this unless the leak actually caused damage to the house or foundation. Even then, many of the newer policies still won't cover the damage or access and egress since the plumbing leak is "within or below the foundation".

None will pay to fix the plumbing.

If you're (or your agent) not sure about your policy, call the Homeowners Division @ Texas Department of Insurance @ 800-578-4677
 
I am not a plumber so I may be out of line here.

Did you mean rerouted through the attic? I do not understand why the had to jackhammer the foundation if they were rerouting the lines. Seems they would go into the wall to get to the manifold that supplies the water to the kitchen, cap it and then reroute a new line through the attic to the kitchen manifold.

I has a slab leak last summer. Two months after installing hardwood floors
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. Luckily my leak was the line between the guest bathroom manifold and the manifold that ran lines to the kitchen. They just had to cap the manifold right behind the bathtub in the hall wall and reroute a line to the manifold behind the sink. Two hours of plumbing work at $100 an hour. Plus about $150 for someone to come out and repair the hole in the hall wall and the wall under the sink cabinet where they had to get to the second manifold.

I may have been lucky that our water heater is in the attic so rerouting of lines may be a little easier
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technically, you're not supposed to repair copper in the slab unless brazing with silver solder. hardly any plumbers both and use regular old solder and a torch.
it's just best to not have fittings under the slab.
 
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