Kailua leaks pinned down before anything gets cut.
A meter that keeps turning or a baseboard that stays damp. We find the source first, so the opening stays small.
Proof
“Paul quickly identified my toilet was leaking from a failed wax seal which was not visible to me. He fixed it immediately.”
Arianna M., Yelp
That review covers the whole job in two sentences. A plumber walks in, finds the thing you had no way of seeing, and fixes it while he is standing there. Leak work should look like that, without a demolition crew and without a list of maybes.
Meter
Run the meter test before you call anyone.
You can find out whether you have a hidden leak on your own, and it costs you about twenty minutes. Shut off every tap in the house. Make sure the washer, the dishwasher and the ice maker are idle and nobody is running a hose outside. Then walk out to the meter and write down what the dial reads.
You can find out whether you have a hidden leak on your own.
Wait fifteen minutes without using any water and read it again. If the numbers moved, water left the pipes while the house was shut down. Many meters also carry a small low-flow indicator, often a triangle or a star, that turns with even a trickle. If that is spinning, you have your answer on the spot.
If the meter holds perfectly still, a leak you suspect is probably at a drain or at a fixture that only leaks while it runs, like a shower valve. If it moves, call us and tell us what you saw. The meter proves a leak exists. Finding the spot is our part, and that part decides how much of your house gets opened.
Under the slab or inside a wall.
The two hide in different ways. A supply line under a concrete slab gives you almost nothing to see: maybe a warm patch on the floor over a hot line, maybe a new crack in the tile, often only the meter.
A leak inside a wall shows itself lower than it started. Water runs down the framing and gathers at the bottom plate, so the wet drywall sits well below the break. Both call for locating before cutting, and which tools we bring depends on which one you have.
Under the slab, watch for a warm spot on the floor with no clear cause, or a new hairline crack in tile or concrete. Some people hear water moving with every tap closed before they see anything.
Inside a wall, it is paint bubbling or drywall gone soft near the base, or a musty smell in a closet or a sink cabinet. Put any of those next to a meter that keeps moving with the house shut down, and it is time to call.
Salt air, older copper and the pinhole leak.
Living this close to the ocean has a plumbing cost. Salt air works on exposed fixtures and connections, and copper that runs along an outside wall, or the fitting where a line comes through the siding, takes it first. A hose bib that has turned green and crusty is showing you what the air does to metal left outside.
Inside the pipe, water chemistry does its own slow work. If your home still has its original copper, that old pipe can thin until a pinhole opens. A pinhole is small enough to weep into a wall or under a cabinet for months before a stain shows.
One pinhole is a repair: we cut out the bad section and put in new pipe. Two or three in the same house within a short stretch tell you the whole run is the same age and in the same shape. At that point we will talk with you about repiping in Kailua instead of coming back to patch the next one.
Listening and thermal tools keep the opening small.
For a supply line, we isolate the section, put it under pressure, and listen with acoustic equipment. Water escaping a pipe makes a sound that carries through concrete and drywall, and it is loudest right over the break. Taking readings as we move across the floor narrows the search from a room down to a spot.
A thermal camera helps on hot-water lines and inside walls, where a leak shows as a patch cooler or warmer than the surface around it. Neither tool is magic. Used together with a pressure test, they let us cut one tidy opening at the leak rather than three holes along a hallway.
Before any of that, we shut the house down and test sections one at a time. Closing the valve to the water heater, then a bathroom group, then an outdoor line tells us whether the loss is on the hot side, the cold side, or outside the house entirely. Knowing that first means we are listening over the right pipe instead of sweeping every room.
When we have the spot, you see it before we open anything. We mark it, explain what kind of pipe is likely under there, and give you the quote for the repair. A licensed plumber makes the fix to code, and we test the line under pressure again, then clean up before we leave.
The leaks people walk past every day.
Plenty of leaks are sitting in plain sight. A toilet that rocks slightly, or leaves a stain around its base, often has a failed wax seal leaking a little with every flush, out of view under the bowl. A running toilet can send a lot of water down the drain and still look fine from the doorway. Listen for a tank that refills on its own when nobody has flushed.
Shower valves, supply lines under sinks and the hoses behind the washer round out the usual list. We check the likely fixtures before anything bigger gets discussed. Send us the leak or call the crew at (808) 445-3585.
We also handle drain cleaning in Kailua, emergency plumbing and water heater installation. There is more about our island-wide leak detection, everything we do in Kailua, and recent jobs from around Oahu.
What Kailua homeowners ask about leaks
How do I check my water meter for a leak?
Turn off every tap and water-using appliance, read the meter, and wait fifteen minutes without using any water. If the reading moved, or the small low-flow indicator is turning, water is leaving the pipes somewhere you cannot see. Call us and tell us what the meter did.
How can you tell a slab leak from a leak in the wall?
A slab leak often shows up as a warm spot on the floor, a new crack in tile, or nothing at all except a moving meter. A wall leak usually shows as damp drywall or bubbling paint near the bottom of the wall. We confirm which one it is with pressure testing and listening equipment before cutting anything.
Why is the wet spot so far from where you opened the wall?
Water leaving a pipe inside a wall runs down the framing and pools at the bottom plate, so the damage shows up below the actual break. Cutting at the wet spot often misses the leak. We trace the moisture and listen to the pipe first, so the opening lands where it should.
Does salt air cause pinhole leaks in copper?
Salt air works on copper that is exposed outside, especially at fittings and where lines pass through an exterior wall. Water chemistry wears on the inside of older pipe at the same time. One pinhole is a simple repair. Several in the same house usually means it is time to talk about repiping.
My toilet rocks a little. Could that be a leak?
It could be. A toilet that moves on the floor can break the wax seal under it, and a failed seal leaks a little with every flush where you cannot see it. Stains or soft flooring around the base are the usual signs. Resetting the toilet on a new seal is a quick repair.
What will I know when you finish?
Where the leak is, what failed and why, and what the repair involves. The number we give you before any work starts is the one on the bill. If you are filing an insurance claim, knowing the location and cause up front keeps the repair contained and the paperwork straightforward.
Schedule
Tell us what the meter did
Let us know what you are seeing, whether the meter moved, and how long it has been going on. We will reach out to set up a visit in Kailua, or call John’s crew at (808) 445-3585.