A slab leak in a 20 year old house can come as a surprise. It sounds like an old house problem, and yours was built with modern methods not long ago. But a slab leak can happen in a newer house too, and a warm floor can be a sign of a hot line under the slab.
Yours doesn't have to turn into a big job. The approach on each job belongs to the contractor, and the equipment can pick up the leak under the concrete. In newer construction the options are good ones, either an opening at the leak or the reroute, abandoning the affected run and carrying new line overhead with no slab or floor work, which can leave the floors as they are. What's found decides the path, and the footage and findings stay yours.
One leak can also be a sign of how the rest of the system is holding up. The conversation covers what this failure suggests about the system, what to watch, and when the bigger options apply versus when one fix is likely enough. You get plain English and real tradeoffs, the decision is yours at your pace, and a licensed contractor performs the work when you say go. In a newer house, a slab leak is usually a manageable problem.
