Telltale signs: leak detection
Hidden leaks show themselves in roundabout ways. A ceiling below a bathroom discolours, baseboards swell, a basement wall stays damp in dry weather, or the water meter turns while every tap in the house is closed. Each of these deserves a methodical search rather than guesswork with a drywall saw.
What we bring
- Copper, PEX and transition fittings
- Tubing cutter, torch, crimp and press tools
- Moisture meter and pressure gauge
Tested before we leave
- Section held under house pressure
- Joints wiped and checked dry
- Main reopened slowly to push out the air
On the job: what we open, clear and test
We start with the simplest test: reading the water meter with everything off to confirm whether water is escaping from the supply side. From there, the search narrows with the tools the situation calls for.
- Moisture meters map the wet area of a wall, floor or ceiling.
- Thermal imaging can reveal cooler patches where water spreads behind a surface.
- Pressure tests on isolated sections show whether a particular run is losing water.
- Drain lines are checked by running fixtures one at a time and watching for the leak to appear.
Once the source is found, we explain what we saw and propose the smallest sensible opening for the repair.
What can change the job
Supply leaks under pressure tend to be steady and easier to trace. Drain leaks only appear when a fixture is in use, so they can take longer to pin down. Tile, plaster and finished ceilings call for more care than open joists. Shower pans and tub surrounds are a frequent culprit, and the fault is sometimes in grout or caulking rather than any pipe at all.
Where the cause turns out to be a split pipe, see burst pipe repair; if the line froze, frozen pipe thawing comes first.
Etobicoke homes and this job
In older Etobicoke houses, original galvanized steel pipe corrodes from the inside and can develop pinhole leaks at threaded joints, often hidden in walls. Homes in West Humber-Clairville and other areas built in the 1970s may have copper lines buried in slab or concealed in finished basements. Outdoor walls are also prone to leaks after a hard winter, when a pipe running close to the cold side has quietly cracked.
Before you call
Turn off the supply to the affected area if you can, and take a meter reading before and after a couple of quiet hours. Photographs of any staining, with the date, help us follow how the leak has developed.
Keeping disruption small
Leak searches can feel intrusive, so we take particular care inside finished rooms. Furniture is moved only with your permission and covered while we work. Where an opening is needed, we cut a neat rectangle that a drywall finisher can patch easily, rather than a ragged hole. Tile is approached last, after every other avenue has been checked. Once the leak is fixed, the area is left open to dry when necessary, and we explain how long to wait before closing it so that trapped moisture does not lead to mould later on.