HELP WANTED (Need work done? Post here)

[prowland]

Is there a plumber in the house? South side... Greenwood area.

I hear some running water in the wall of the master bath. I looked in the wall and did not see any water. I shut the water main off and the noise stopped.

I don't know whats going on.

Thanks

 

[GREEN607]

Do you live in a house, or apartment? How long?

Did your wife/girl just hang a new pic or wall decoration above the toilet? A small nail thru the pipe to the toilet (if the pipe enters that wall from the ceiling) can cause a leak and "running water" that can't be seen till the water fills up the lowest portion of the wall, and starts coming thru the base or drywall.... that pipe's in line before the shut-off for the stool.

Seen that one, many times, in doing plumbing repairs for some 16 years.....

 

[prowland]

Ranch style house on slab. No new pictures. Lived here almost 2 years.

No water coming through the base or drywall yet.

 

[GREEN607]

Ranch style house on slab. No new pictures. Lived here almost 2 years.

No water coming through the base or drywall yet.

The running water noise you hear, may be actually in the floor, and not the wall. Homes that have the water lines plumbed in the slab, can get a break (split pipe) or a sweat joint leak.... when the frost leaves the ground. This (more often than not) occurs on the hot water line.

Feel around on your bath floor, and see if you find a 'hot spot' in the floor that's much warmer than the rest of the floor. If you find one, that would indicate a hot water line leaking there. Not an easy fix..... requires breaking up part of the floor/slab and getting to the pipe to repair it with a splice (Sharks tooth coupling), or sweating in a small piece of copper to replace the bad length where the break is located.

Another way you can determine if it's in the hot water line.... is to leave the water 'main' on and turn the "hot out" valve off (at the water heater)..... if there is one. The noise will stop if it is in the hot water line.

 

[prowland]

Thanks for your replies... i am going to check the things you mentioned. The last 2 months the water bill has been quite a bit more than usual.

Hope its not serious... we will find out.

 

[GREEN607]

BTW, I didn't mean to insist that you aren't hearing the water in the wall. Just suggesting some possibilites.

Also, is there an outside water spigot (hose bibb) on a common wall w/ the bathroom? Sometimes, they freeze and break, but the leak doesn't start until Spring.

Edit: Hope we're not hi-jacking the thread. Not my intention.

 

[grimor]

I need a tailor in Elkhart area or very close to do some basic modification to a plate carrier. remove some stitching, restitch and maybe add some velcro strips and padding. I'd do it by hand but it really needs a machine that can stitch heavy material to be done right. shoot me a PM

still needed

 

[prowland]

We do have a water hookup on that outside wall but it has been shut off until about 4 days ago when I sprayed the lawn for weeds.

Just for another bit of info... last year we used 6 units of water this month and this year we used 23 so there has to be a leak.

Roto rooter came out and didn't see a leak in the shower. I need to cut into the wall to take a look. I will do that tomorrow.

The want a minimum of $250 to do a leak detection.

 

[ATOMonkey]

The toilet isn't leaking is it?

Just trying to cover the obvious before you do any demo.

 

[prowland]

I dont think the toilet is leaking... I am going to do the koolaid in the tank trick and see if its leaking.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Well, if you're hearing water running in the wall, then you should be able to see/hear a toilet filling somewhere too.

After I said that I thought about it some more and decided that probably wasn't your problem.

I'm trying to think of anything else that might be leaking and causing you to hear that running water.

 

[prowland]

I dont always hear the water running.

I did some further inspection and this is what I have come up with...

The water meter is running continuously (that little red triangle is spinning) when everything is shut off.

None of the toilets are leaking. I checked inside the tank for problems with the overflow as well. Everything is looking good there.

When I shut off the cold input to the water heater the water meter stops spinning. So this leads me to believe that I have a hot water leak somewhere in the slab.

There is no signs of water leaking inside the house that I have seen.

I guess my next step is someone to come do that water detection process. Looks like we will be digging into the ground. I hope its in the bathroom because we had thought about remodeling it and not in the living room where we just had brand new bamboo hardwood flooring installed!!!!

Wish me luck!!!

Thanks for all the help!

 

[GREEN607]

I dont always hear the water running.

I did some further inspection and this is what I have come up with...

The water meter is running continuously (that little red triangle is spinning) when everything is shut off.

None of the toilets are leaking. I checked inside the tank for problems with the overflow as well. Everything is looking good there.

When I shut off the cold input to the water heater the water meter stops spinning. So this leads me to believe that I have a hot water leak somewhere in the slab.

There is no signs of water leaking inside the house that I have seen.

I guess my next step is someone to come do that water detection process. Looks like we will be digging into the ground. I hope its in the bathroom because we had thought about remodeling it and not in the living room where we just had brand new bamboo hardwood flooring installed!!!!

Wish me luck!!!

Thanks for all the help!

Do you know anyone who has access to a medical stethascope? They work very well for detecting what area a 'slab leak' is in......

 

[prowland]

I could ask... wife does ultrasound at a hospital. That would be cheaper...

 

[AllenM]

I need IT help. I am upgrading my old server with a new one. Not migrating and need help with setup of the server and clients. Windows SBS 2008 with Exchange server. Small network 8 clients, but has critical to me information on it I need someone very knowledgeable to keep my down time to a minimum. Westside of Indy in Avon

 

[woowoo2]

Prowland, My house also had a leak in the slab.
The previous owners just abandoned the piping and ran a new water line through the attic.
When I bought the house, made sure the line was insulated properly.
It's been 11 years now, no problems.
(Lost cheaper than a jackhammer)

 

[prowland]

Prowland, My house also had a leak in the slab.
The previous owners just abandoned the piping and ran a new water line through the attic.
When I bought the house, made sure the line was insulated properly.
It's been 11 years now, no problems.
(Lost cheaper than a jackhammer)

That makes so much sense... The only use for the attic right now is christmas lights.

I think this is going to be the answer... the $250 the leak detector would cost could go towards re-running the lines.

I need to look at the costs of doing this because we have 3 showers, laundry room, and kitchen that would need to have hot water run to it.

 

[Que]

I need a reloading table built. Nothing fancy, just 60x54x36, that is very sturdy. PM with estimate, please.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Do you know anyone who has access to a medical stethascope? They work very well for detecting what area a 'slab leak' is in......

Mechanics stethascope is about $30 and is better at detecting mechanical noise.

 

[prowland]

I found a guy to do the IR pictures and have located the area of the leak... I got one of those laser temp readers from work and located where I thought the leak was.

I just needed to pay and extra $150 to make sure... (insert mad face here)

Now to rip up the flooring and possibly the stand up shower in the master bath.

Thanks again for all the help and quick replies!!