Professional Leak Detection & Repair in Clayton, NC

If you suspect a hidden leak, you're probably right. Most homeowners don't start searching for leak information on a hunch — something tipped you off. A water bill that jumped $30 for no reason. A musty smell in a room that won't go away. A warm spot on the floor. These are real signs, and catching them early is the difference between a $300 repair and a $10,000 remediation project.

Here's how to confirm your suspicion right now, before you call anyone.

The Water Meter Test

Turn off every faucet, appliance, and fixture in your home that uses water. Don't flush toilets, don't run the dishwasher, don't let the ice maker cycle. Then go to your water meter — usually located near the street in a concrete box. Watch the flow indicator (a small triangle or dial on the meter face). If it's moving with everything shut off, water is leaving your system somewhere. You have a leak.

Wake County water bills show your usage in gallons, so you can also compare month over month. A spike of 2,000-3,000 gallons with no change in habits is a strong indicator of a leak you can't see.

Signs That Point to a Hidden Leak

Not every leak announces itself with a puddle on the floor. Here's what to look for:

- Water stains on ceilings or walls, especially yellow or brown discoloration that grows over time
- Bubbling, warping, or peeling paint on walls
- Soft or spongy spots in flooring, particularly near bathrooms and kitchens
- A persistent musty or mildew smell in a specific area, even after cleaning
- Mold growth along baseboards or in closets that share walls with plumbing
- The sound of running water when nothing is on
- Hot spots on a concrete slab floor (indicates a hot water line leak underneath)
- A water heater that runs constantly, trying to keep up with lost hot water
- Cracks in your foundation that appeared recently

Any two of these together should prompt a professional inspection.

Where Leaks Hide in Triangle-Area Homes

Leaks aren't random. They happen at predictable weak points, and the construction styles common in our area make certain locations more likely.

*Under the Slab*

Many homes in Apex, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina are built on concrete slabs. The water supply lines run through or underneath that slab. When Triangle clay soil expands and contracts with seasonal moisture changes, it puts pressure on pipes and fittings. Over time, connections fail or pipes develop pinhole leaks. You won't see the water — it seeps into the soil or wicks up through the concrete, showing up as a damp or warm spot on your floor long after the leak started.

*Polybutylene Pipes*

If your home was built between 1978 and 1995, there's a good chance it has polybutylene supply lines — gray plastic pipes that were used widely in North Carolina construction during that era. Polybutylene reacts with chlorine and other oxidants in treated water, becoming brittle from the inside out. The pipes look fine on the outside while degrading internally. They fail at fittings, at bends, and sometimes in straight runs with no warning. These aren't if-they-fail pipes. They're when-they-fail pipes.

*Inside Walls*

Supply lines and drain pipes run vertically through wall cavities. A loose fitting, a corroded joint, or a nail that nicked a pipe during construction can create a slow leak that drips for months before anyone notices. The water travels down the inside of the wall, soaking insulation and drywall, and often shows up as damage far from the actual leak source.

*At the Water Heater*

The connections at the top of your water heater, the temperature and pressure relief valve, and the tank itself are all common leak sources. Tank water heaters corrode internally over 8-12 years. A small drip from the bottom of the tank often means the lining has failed.

How We Find Leaks Without Tearing Up Your Home

Element Service Group uses non-invasive detection methods to locate leaks precisely before cutting into anything.

Acoustic detection uses sensitive microphones to listen for the sound of pressurized water escaping a pipe. Even a small leak creates a distinct noise signature that our equipment picks up through concrete, tile, and drywall.

Thermal imaging cameras detect temperature differences behind walls and under floors. A leaking hot water line shows up as a warm zone. A cold water leak shows as a cooler area against the surrounding surface. This lets us narrow the location to within inches.

Moisture meters measure the water content in drywall, wood, and concrete. We can map the extent of moisture damage and trace it back to the source point — which is often several feet from where you see visible damage.

For slab leaks, we use electronic line locators to trace the pipe path under the concrete, combined with pressure testing to confirm which line is leaking. This means we only cut into the slab where the leak actually is, not where we're guessing it might be.

We offer a free leak inspection — an $89 value — because finding the leak accurately saves everyone time and money. It's better to spend 45 minutes with the right equipment than to start cutting drywall and hope for the best.

The Cost of Waiting

A hidden leak doesn't fix itself, and the damage compounds fast. Here's what happens when a small leak runs unchecked:

In the first week, water saturates drywall and insulation. Mold spores need 24-48 hours of moisture to begin colonizing.

Within a month, structural wood begins to soften. Mold spreads behind the wall where you can't see it. Your water bill climbs.

After a few months, subfloor damage sets in. Mold remediation becomes a separate project from the plumbing repair, often costing $2,000-$5,000 on its own. If the leak is under a slab, the concrete can begin to shift or crack.

The plumbing repair itself is usually the cheapest part of the job. It's the secondary damage — mold, drywall, flooring, structural repairs — that turns a small leak into a major expense. Finding and fixing it early keeps the problem contained to a plumbing repair and nothing more.