Got a frantic call yesterday from my daughter. Water was pushing up when she walked on the hardwood floor.

House sits on a monoslab. A number of our water lines run through pvc tubing in the slab. Some through the attic.

Most water lines run through a manifold that, theoretically allow you to shut off any line to any sink/tub etc.

Need some ideas about how to identify where this water is coming from. How to identify when water is still slowly moving through these plastic lines.

I am gone, but the wife has pulled up a little of the flooring.She thinks the water is coming up through a crack in the slab.

I know it isn't a ton of info.Iam over 500miles away. Just trying to game plan how to attack this problem. Of course,this is grad week and we have people coming in at the end of the week.

Hope you get it figured out

Get someone to locate the line under the slab. Electronic Locating equipment should be able to trace the line unless it's plastic. Maybe prints from the building department/ permit could help. Exposing the service line outside the house foudation will help get a starting location and direction. Then drill a series of holes through the slab, a few feet apart over the manifold but not through it. Hopefully one hole is a gusher instead of a slow weeper. Then use a concrete saw and electric hammer to remove a small area of slab. Hopefully you are able to find the manifold. See which way the water is coming from through the gravel under the slab and remove more concrete untill you find the leak.

And everybody wants to slab a house..

I understand your predicament, and you looking for advice here,

But I can only hope the pro’s have already been called?

Close the valve at the water meter. Disconnect a line in the house somewhere and inject some dish soap and air it up with air to 60 to 80 pounds. The location of the leak will be evident. their will be a large foam ball.

I did call a plumber already.

At the time, thought it could be a leak from above coming down the inside of a wall.

So the plumber is in the works. I am heading home tomorrow night and figured I would spend time Monday starting tracking it down.

Manifold is in the house.

One thought I had was to disconnect each line, fashion a fitting on the end and pump air into each, one at a time. Figure I might be able to identify one that isn't holding the compression.

That’s not a bad idea

Amazing post

Hard to Imagine posting on an Internet forum about an emergency situation at your home to a bunch of anonymous fuqks around the world who can’t fix your problem

Obviously a BiteMe voter

If it's a "manifold" style you should be able to isolate the bad circuit and reroute a new one.
Shut down Hot water to try and determine H or C.
Do you know if they put the pex in conduits or just poured into place?

The hoses are run in pvc conduits.

Problem is, the manifold doesn't seem to still work 100%. Some of the circuits, when the lever is thrown, it doesn't seem to completely shut the water off.

Don't understand your problem

If it’s hoses inside conduits you should have water coming up from inside the conduit that houses the leaking line

You have bad valves, there leaking internally,,,,,Old Gate valves?

I read threads like this and just cringe,,Get the pro’s on site ASAP….

Homeowners can be their own worst enemy……

Your about to make honorary mention in the 24 hour campfire Death match, House vs Water….

Hope the damage isn’t too extensive.

Unless there is a break in the conduit from some settling.

We’re talking to a guy that’s 500 miles from the crisis.

Thats a tough spot to be in….

I’m going to assume the hardwood flooring is already a loss.

Just do a search for a plumbing contractor in your area that specializes in leak detection. Slab leaks are often the easiest to detect and repair.

Have already talked to a plumber Friday pm.

He’s ready to come and get started.

But for now I’m 2 states away and trying to think through what the issue might be.

Had a plastic dishwasher line wreck my flooring in the kitchen once.

Another house, had an ice maker line do its thing behind all the appliances for a long time before migrating out to rot the center of the floor

Call the insurance company... go all Karen.

"House is almost to the point of being inhabitable and getting worse... electrical wire arcing... black mold starting... don't know what to do... don't want someone to die of electrocution... house could be a total loss."

MAYBE... JUST MAYBE... they will throw a Service Pro team at ya.

Ya gonna have to sell it though...

Web help... not so much.

Have them send out a 2022 Fema Camper

Pitbull smell and formaldehyde fumes at cost plus

Out Of Stock...

BUT a well used 2005 Hurricane Katrina camper... from the Lower 9th Ward... No Problem.

This is going to be expensive. I’d never own a home with water lines under the slab.

Not necessarily the case in this situation if they are all encased in conduits. Pull out the old line and pull the new one through.

^^^ This ^^^

My first two prime suspects...

Many a water leak has been traced to the above.

And leaking water beneath floor doesn't necessarily always show near the source of leak, either.

Generally speaking, just the main cold water feed into many houses built on slabs is inside concrete slab, then branches out through walls and possibly ceiling to water heater, kitchen / bathroom(s), laundry room, outside hose hydrants.



Best of Luck to you...

Did you already get the common stuff checked out? Dishwasher, icemaker...etc. if it leaks there and gets under the flooring.....it can run.

Exercise the valves. This is something nobody does and then 19 years later they need to shut down a supply line and the valve is filled with minerals.

If the leak is enough to push water above the slab, there should be water at that same elevation in one of the conduits. A pex leak in the middle of a cased run would be pretty abnormal without some mechanical disturbance.

If the manifold valves work and depending on how bad the leak is, you might be able to hear the water getting past the valve just before it’s fully closed.

The simplest proved to be the problem.

Small line from the RO to the dispenser at the sink was the culprit.

Lots of clues that sent us in other directions. Plumber initially suspected the icemaker supply line. Never thought the ro line with a slow leak could have done this, but, sure enough.

Big result, beyond messing up the flooring, was that shutting off valves at the manifold trying to trace the source resulted in leaks starting there. So a replacement manifold is on the way.

Not here, they don't meet building codes. Foundations need to be below frost line 24". It's a cheap way to build, not necessarily the best way to build. To the op, hope you find the fix.

Cold as heck here too.

Guy that built the house commented he didn't want a crawl space because he hated the old dirt smell you get in the crawl space. One of many dumb things and reasonings he did and had.

Lines are contained in conduits. If we had to, we could pull a new/replacement line.

As it is, just another experience to look back on.

This^ plus, the reason for these manifolds is to enable shutting down one fixture at a time to allow service or repair in an emergency. (Also to reduce the lengths of full diameter pipes). Hopefully the manifolds are accessible and have individual valving. Then it is a process of elimination. Be sure it is water lines and not radiant heat.

The manifold is accessible.

Water leak has been found and it was an RO line to the kitchen sink leaking.

But while trying to narrow down the source of the leak, the manifold valves started leaking. So now we are waiting for a new manifold to replace the old one.

What depth is frost line?

I have built 8 houses turnkey. All on crawl space or basement. I hate slabs.

What is an RO line?

Reverse osmosis water filtration line.

I hate plumbing problems. I hate the word plumbing.

Slabs are nice for zero steps.

The push in connectors on the RO line coming to the sink were leaking.

When I glanced in under there, there was no water pooling and the floor of the cabinet was not swelled up that would normally occur when water has been leaking for a bit. So i wrote it off as a suspect.

Just waiting to get parts to replace the manifold now so I can have all water at all locations on and good to go.

Thanks for everyone's input. Even the guy that chastised me for working on figuring sch!t out on my own and suggested I call a plumbing service in England.