Plumbing leak damage Gainesville Florida: Plumbing leaks can cause a variety of damage to your home or office and often times can go undetected for days even weeks. Plumbing leaks in the foundation’s of homes can be difficult to locate with out the proper equipment such as thermal imaging camera’s, moisture survey equipment, sonar guided leak detection equipment. Leaks in a homes foundation often times start so small they can’t be spotted by the naked eye however they can grow the size of a pea within days flooding your home or causing hidden mold damage. Mold damage resulting from a hidden plumbing leak in your foundation can be costly and often times insurance companies are looking to deny the claim or minimize the claim. Most homeowners have what is known as an HO3 policy in the state of Florida. The HO3 policy is a standard protection policy regulated sold to consumers by insurance companies. Every year insurance companies review the claims for the year and make amendments to the policy any where they are losing money. The state of Florida regulates amendments to insurance policies attempting to protect the consumers from the insurance companies. Insurance companies decided mold remediation and mold liability was costing money so a mold limit of 10,000.00 dollars per policy period was passed. Hidden plumbing leaks can cause more then 10,000.00 dollars in mold damage in a 5 day period leaving the consumer or homeowner stuck with the remaining costs for mold related services. Mold remediation can be very expensive testing for mold contamination can coat as much as 1,500.00 dollars before any work begins. Mold contamination can be harmful to building occupants and should be remediated quickly by a licensed professional. Plumbing leaks in foundation of homes often times occur in copper plumbing lines that are 15 years old or more. North Central Florida has very hard water due to lime rock deposits which can be abrasive to copper plumbing lines over a period of time. Usually when a home suffers from a foundation leak in a copper line we find that chances of another leak increase by 50 percent. If you feel you have plumbing leak damage call Gainesville Leak Detection Inc.
Tag: Mold Damage
Slab Leak Repair
A slab leak is the plumbing industry’s term for a pinhole leak that has developed in a copper water line below the concrete slab or floor of your home. They are also known as a foundation leak and concrete slab leak. Here are the most common slab leak symptoms:
- High water bill
- Hear water running but nothing is on
- Wet planters near the house
- Hot spots on the floor
- Wet base boards
- Water on the floor or carpet
- Water coming out below the water heater but the platform is dry
If you think you have a slab leak you should contact a professional water leak detection service as soon as possible. Failure to act fast can result in further damage to your home or office and the risk of insurance claim denial increases. The goal of a water leak detection service is to locate the leak quickly, creating the least amount of damage to the property as possible. Often times plumbing companies lack the proper equipment needed to locate a slab leak. Plumbing companies without the proper leak detection equipment often create as much damage as the actual slab leak by cutting holes in walls and ceilings searching, at random, for the water leak. There are four basic options for slab leak pipe repairs / slab leak repair.
- Direct Access: This is the insurance company’s term for jack hammering up the concrete slab or floor to make a spot repair on the leaking line. This is the quickest solution but not always the best solution due to the chances of another slab leak arising down the road. Most of the cost associated with this solution are covered by the standard insurance policy. This method generally coast between 1,000.00-1,500.00 dollars.
- Pipe Re-route: This is currently the industry standard for repairing a slab leak and the solution generally recognized by the insurance companies as the best. However this method is not covered by insurance policies and can run between 3,000.00 – 10,000.00 dollars depending on the size and area that needs pipe re-route. This method is done by cutting the water pressure off to the copper pipes below the concrete slab and running new plumbing lines through the walls and ceilings of your home or office. Other than the high cost associated with this method of repair, the biggest issue is the new plumbing lines are now running through your ceiling and, if you have plumbing failure, the damage to the home or office can be severe.
- Epoxy Restoration: This method of repair is only offered by a few companies and has its advantages and disadvantages. This method utilizes non-metallic PEX piping and can cost less money than the traditional pipe re-route method. It usually runs between 3,000.00 -4,000.00 dollars but is not covered by insurance policies. Epoxy restoration method does come with a 10 year warranty but this method has been known to fail much sooner and is only as good as the quality of PEX piping used.