What sends most homeowners searching for answers on slab leak repair? Usually it’s one of three things: a water bill that jumped with no explanation, a warm spot on the living room floor, or the sound of running water at 2 a.m. when every faucet is off. Each one points to the same problem. A water line has failed somewhere under the concrete your house sits on, and it’s leaking under pressure around the clock. The longer it runs, the more it soaks your slab, your flooring, and the soil underneath, and the more the repair costs.
Fixing it is not a weekend project. Slab leak repair starts with finding the leak exactly and ends with a repair matched to your pipe, where the leak sits, and how old the rest of your plumbing is. Getting a licensed plumber out quickly matters, because every day a pressurized leak runs widens the work ahead.
This guide walks you through the warning signs, how we find a leak under the slab, the repair options we use and when each one makes sense, and what drives the cost.
Warning signs of a slab leak
Your water bill and your meter
An unexplained jump in your water bill is often the first sign. If your usage hasn’t changed, check the toilets before anything else, since a running toilet is the quietest water thief in a house. Drop food coloring in the tank, don’t flush, and look in the bowl in fifteen minutes. Color means the flapper is passing water, and that’s a cheap fix you can do yourself.
If the toilets pass, let your meter tell you what your eyes can’t. Shut off every faucet, the ice maker, and the irrigation, then watch the small triangle on the meter. If it’s still moving, water is going somewhere. With no drip anywhere in the house, it’s likely underground or under the slab.
What your floors are telling you
A warm spot on a tile or concrete floor is a strong sign of a hot water line leaking under the slab. Damp spots, flooring that starts to cup or lift, and new cracks in tile mean the leak has been running long enough to soak the concrete and whatever sits on it. That raises both the urgency and the eventual bill.
Sounds, smells, and pressure
Running water you can hear under the floor or behind a wall with everything off is worth taking seriously. So is a musty smell in a room that has never flooded, because water trapped under a slab can feed mold before you ever see a wet spot. Put any of these together with a moving meter and it’s time to stop guessing and call a licensed plumber.
Is it a water line or a drain line?
Not every leak under a slab is on the pressurized side. A water line shows up as a water bill that jumped or a warm spot on the floor, and your meter keeps creeping with everything off. A drain line is quieter: repeat backups, or damp carpet in one spot. Drain lines under the slab get a camera inspection instead, and our sewer and slab services page covers that side.
How we find a slab leak before any concrete gets cut
Pressure testing narrows it down
Before we open anything, we isolate the hot and cold sides and pressure test each one. A pressure drop on one line takes the search from somewhere under the house to a single pipe system, and every step after that goes faster.
Acoustic gear pinpoints it
Once we know which line is leaking, we run acoustic gear that hears water under concrete. Water escaping a pressurized pipe makes noise, and listening across the floor tells us where it’s loudest. On a hot water line, a warm spot on the floor helps confirm the location.
Why accuracy matters before we cut
Every foot of error means more concrete broken out, more floor covering pulled up, and more to put back afterward. An accurate mark keeps the opening small, which keeps the cost and the mess down. That’s why slab leak detection comes first, and why we don’t cut until we know where the leak is.
Your slab leak repair options
Once the leak is found, there are three ways to fix it. We do all three in house, and we’ll tell you which one fits your house, even when it’s the cheaper one.
Open the slab and replace the failed section
We cut the concrete over the leak from inside the house, replace the failed piece of pipe, and put the concrete back. We don’t tunnel under homes, so the opening sits right over the leak, and the better the detection, the smaller it is. This makes sense for a single failure on a line that’s otherwise in good shape.
The concrete goes back, but tile, wood, carpet, and paint over the patch belong to a flooring or general contractor. We’ll tell you that before we start rather than after, so line your flooring person up early.
Reroute the line through the attic
Instead of breaking into the floor, we take the failed run out of service and run a new line overhead through the attic and down the wall to the fixture. PEX is our default because it bends, so we pull it through with far fewer holes cut than copper takes. This is often the better call when the leak sits under finished flooring or the same run has leaked before, because it gets that line out of the slab for good.
Rerouting means small access cuts where the new line comes down the wall. We keep the cuts small and tell you where they’re going. Putting the wall back is drywall and paint work, which isn’t our trade.
Repipe when the pattern says so
On an older system, one slab leak is often the first of several. Copper corrodes from the inside out, so a pinhole says more about the run than the spot. The first pinhole is a repair, and the second in the same house means the whole run. Our rule of thumb: one leak is a repair, and leaks in different parts of the house inside the same year is a repipe.
A whole-home repipe replaces the supply lines to every fixture, in PEX by default and copper if you want it. It typically takes 1 to 3 days, you can stay in the house, and we turn the water back on before we leave every evening. Our leak repair and repiping page has more on how we decide.
Comparing your repair options at a glance
| Method | What we do | Your floors and walls | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open the slab and replace the section | Cut the concrete over the leak, replace the failed pipe, put the concrete back | Concrete goes back; tile, wood, or carpet over the patch is a flooring contractor’s work | One failure on a line that’s otherwise sound |
| Reroute through the attic | Take the failed run out of service and run a new line overhead, usually PEX | Small wall cuts where the line comes down; drywall and paint are not included | A leak under finished flooring, or a run that has leaked before |
| Whole-home repipe | New supply lines to every fixture, PEX by default, typically 1 to 3 days | Small access cuts; water back on every evening | Leaks in different parts of the house inside the same year |
What slab leak repair costs
What moves the price
Where the leak sits explains most of the difference between one quote and another. A leak under an open garage floor costs far less to reach than one under hardwood in the living room. How much pipe has failed matters just as much, and so do the pipe material and its age, because they decide whether a spot repair, a reroute, or a repipe is the honest answer.
For a whole-home repipe, our own Tulsa job history puts the average at $5,000 to $7,000, with large, difficult homes at $15,000 or more. Bathrooms, two stories, a slab, and tight attic access push you toward the high end. For a single slab leak, we find it first, then walk you through the scope, the timeline, and the cost before anything starts. No pricing games.
What a plumbing quote usually doesn’t cover
Plan for the finish work separately. We put the concrete back, but new tile, wood, carpet, drywall, and paint belong to a flooring or general contractor, and cleaning up water damage is its own trade too. How long the leak ran before it was caught decides how big those extra costs get.
What to do right now, and when to call a plumber
The part you can handle yourself
If you find water where it shouldn’t be, shut the water off. The main shutoff is usually where the line enters the house, in a garage, utility closet, or outside wall. Get the floor dry and put a fan on it, because water sitting turns a pipe bill into a drywall bill. Then run the toilet and meter checks above so you know what you’re dealing with.
That’s where the DIY part ends. Slab leak repair means cutting concrete, working on a pressurized line, and when the job calls for it, pulling a permit. A failed attempt can leave you with a bigger leak, a cracked floor, and no warranty to fall back on.
Insurance, permits, and why licensed and insured matters
Read your policy or call your agent before work starts. Policies generally cover sudden, accidental water damage and not the pipe that caused it, and a slow leak seeping for months gets denied as maintenance. A whole-home repipe is almost never covered. We photograph what we find on every leak call, whether you file or not.
Tulsa Plumbing & Remodeling is licensed and insured (Oklahoma plumbing license #180753). When a job needs a permit, we pull it ourselves, and we’re registered in Tulsa County, Rogers County, and the cities across the metro. Our labor carries a one-year warranty.
Frequently asked questions about slab leak repair
How much does slab leak repair cost?
It depends most on where the leak sits and how much pipe has failed. We find the leak first, then walk you through your options and the price before any work starts. If the answer is a whole-home repipe, our Tulsa jobs average $5,000 to $7,000, and large, difficult homes run $15,000 or more.
How do you find a leak under the slab?
We isolate the hot and cold sides and pressure test each one, then pinpoint the spot with acoustic gear that hears water under concrete. We don’t cut until we know where the leak is, so the opening stays small.
Will homeowners insurance cover a slab leak?
Read your policy or call your agent. Policies generally cover sudden, accidental water damage and not the pipe that caused it, and a slow leak seeping for months gets denied as maintenance. We photograph what we find on every leak call, so you have it if you file.
Does slab leak repair come with a warranty?
Yes. Our labor carries a one-year warranty. Whoever you hire, get the warranty terms in writing before work begins.
Can I stay in my home during slab leak repair?
In most cases, yes. On a repipe, the water is off while we work, but we turn it back on before we leave every evening. On a spot repair or a reroute, we’ll tell you up front when you’ll be without water.
Who puts my floor back after a slab leak repair?
We do the plumbing and put the concrete back. Tile, wood, carpet, and paint belong to a flooring or general contractor. Despite the name on the truck, we aren’t heading up remodels right now, so line your flooring person up early.
The bottom line on slab leak repair
Catch it early, find it accurately, and match the repair to the pipe. The biggest mistake homeowners make is waiting. A pressurized leak under your foundation costs more every day it runs, and what starts as a flooring problem can become a foundation problem if it’s ignored long enough.
If the signs in this guide sound familiar, call Tulsa Plumbing & Remodeling at (918) 800-4426. We’re licensed and insured, we offer same-day service, and we’ll walk you through what we found and your options before any concrete gets cut.
