Slab Leak Repair in Poway, CA

Are Poway homes old enough to worry about?

Many are. Poway's median home was built around 1978, so a large share of houses have supply piping that has been in the ground or the slab for over four decades. In a slab house, copper of that age most often fails at a pinhole where it rubs against gravel, rebar or another line, or at a joint that has flexed through years of pressure swings. Newer homes are less exposed but still leak at fittings now and then. If a house has already had one slab repair, the rest of the original buried line is usually the same age, and that matters for what to do next.

Is Poway's water part of the problem?

Poway treats its own water at the Lester J. Berglund Water Treatment Plant and uses both chlorine and chloramines. The city's report lists hardness around 228 to 235 ppm as calcium carbonate. That is hard water, and it shows up as scale in water heaters, faucets and shower valves. The report doesn't connect it to leaks under floors, though, so a plumber judges a slab leak by the condition of the pipe, not the water bill.

Where does the city's side end?

Poway's cross-connection ordinance defines the service connection as ending at the downstream end of the meter, which is the practical line between public and private plumbing. Everything after that, including the pipe under your slab, is private. If water is pooling near the meter or in the street, call Poway Customer Services at 858-668-4401; after 3:00 p.m. on business days and on weekends and holidays, the city routes calls to the Water Treatment Plant at 858-668-4751. Permits go through Building Services at 858-668-4645, which accepts electronic submittals only.

A Poway note

A cracked sprinkler line or a stuck irrigation valve can make a Poway meter spin just like a slab leak. Turn the irrigation controller off and close any valve that feeds the yard before you run the meter test. If the meter still moves with the irrigation isolated, the leak is in the house or on the line to it.