The words "slab leak" scare people more than almost anything in plumbing. The leak is under your foundation, in the water lines that run through or beneath the concrete your house stands on, so it's easy to picture jackhammers and torn up floors. Most of the time it doesn't go that way. Slab leaks happen in San Diego, the fixes have gotten better, and a torn up house isn't the only way.
The signs are usually indirect, like a warm spot on the floor from a hot line leaking below, a water bill that jumped, the sound of running water with everything off, a meter that won't sit still, or cracks in the flooring and moisture at the slab's edge. Any of those is worth a call. How each job is approached is the contractor's decision, and detection equipment can trace the leak through the concrete.
Then the options, and there are usually several. Sometimes the smart fix is an access through the slab at the leak, instead of an excavation. Other times, when the findings support it, it's better to abandon the leaking line entirely and reroute new pipe overhead, through walls and attic, never touching the slab at all. In a house with a history of slab leaks, the conversation should include a repipe. Every path gets explained in plain English with its real tradeoffs, and you decide, with a licensed contractor performing the work. It sounds scary, but a slab leak in San Diego is a problem with real options.
