Slab Leak Detection & Repair — San Diego, CA
Need a slab leak detection & repair in San Diego? You've got two real options: roll the dice on a Yelp listing, or call a shop that's been working in your zip code for a while. We're the second one. Calls go to a working tech, not a call center. You'll get a real estimate over the phone when we can give one.
What a typical call looks like
Recent San Diego job: mildew smell along the baseboard in a 1970s home. We re-routed the cold line and dried the slab after diagnosing slow cold-water slab leak under the kitchen. Cost ran $540 — pretty middle-of-the-road for that fix.
The actual work
Slab leaks are pinhole leaks in copper plumbing lines that run inside or under a concrete slab foundation. Common in 1960s through 1980s slab-on-grade builds across the Sun Belt and parts of the Midwest.
Signs: warm or wet spots on the floor, unexplained jumps in the water bill, the sound of running water when nothing is on, mildew smell along baseboards. Hot-side leaks show up faster than cold-side because of the warm spot.
Detection runs $280–$480 standalone. We use acoustic listening equipment plus an infrared thermal camera. Once we've located it, you have two repair options.
San Diego-area patterns we see
Newer San Diego construction tends to be on slab foundations with PEX. Easier access in some ways, more code-current in others.
If you're calling from a property management company, we have separate scheduling and billing for that.
Fair pricing for this work
For slab leak detection & repair jobs in the San Diego area:
- Slab leak detection (acoustic + infrared): $280 – $480
- Re-route a single line overhead: $1,400 – $2,800
- Pinhole repair in slab (jackhammer): $1,800 – $3,400
- Full re-pipe of slab home (PEX overhead): $8,500 – $18,000