Once the leak is located, you have three ways to fix it: a spot repair through the slab, a reroute overhead, or a partial or whole repipe. Bulwark Plumbing prices each option that fits, in writing, and you choose.
Slab leak repair means one of three things: opening the floor at the marked spot and repairing the pipe, rerouting the leaking line through the walls and attic, or repiping part or all of the house. A spot repair suits a first leak in sound pipe. A reroute or repipe suits pipe that has leaked before or is failing along its length.
Bulwark Plumbing does slab leak repair across Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville and 52 cities in DFW from our shop at 720 Industrial Blvd in Grapevine. You get a written flat price for each option before work starts.
The leak has to be found first. Slab leak repair starts from a located, recorded leak: pressure testing tells us whether the hot or cold line is leaking, and acoustic equipment marks the spot under the floor. Our leak detection page covers how that works. If you are still deciding whether you have a leak at all, start with the signs of a slab leak and the meter test.
Once the location is marked, the technician walks you through what was found and which slab leak repair options fit your house. Nothing is cut or opened until you have approved a written price. If two or three options are legitimate, you get a price for each, so the choice is yours and not ours.
The three options are a spot repair through the slab, a reroute of the leaking line overhead, and a partial or whole repipe. Each is a legitimate slab leak repair in the right house. The table lays out what each involves and where it fits.
| Option | What it involves | Often fits when | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot repair through the slab | Cut an opening in the floor at the recorded location, repair the pipe, restore the concrete | A first leak in pipe that is otherwise sound, under flooring that is easy to lift | The floor covering at that spot has to be replaced, and the rest of the old line stays under the slab |
| Reroute overhead | Abandon the leaking run under the slab and run new pipe through walls and the attic | A run that has leaked before, or a leak under cabinets, tile or wood you want to keep | Drywall openings to patch, but no concrete work and no new pipe left in the slab |
| Partial or whole repipe | Replace a group of lines or the whole supply system, usually overhead, in copper, PEX or CPVC | A second or third leak, or pipe that is failing along its length | The largest job, but it ends the cycle of repeat leaks |
A spot slab leak repair goes straight to the leak. The floor covering is lifted at the marked location, an opening is cut through the concrete, the soil is dug out to expose the pipe, and the damaged section is repaired. The system is pressure tested, the hole is backfilled, and the concrete is restored. Flooring replacement at that spot is usually a separate trade.
It is the most direct slab leak repair, and it suits a first leak on pipe that tests sound elsewhere. Its limit is that it repairs one point on an old line. The pipe on either side has seen the same water, the same soil movement and the same years.
A reroute leaves the leaking section in the slab, disconnected, and runs a new line through the walls and the attic to the same fixtures. No concrete is cut for this kind of slab leak repair. The work is in drywall, which is opened where the new pipe drops into a wall and patched afterward.
A reroute is often the better slab leak repair when the leak sits under a kitchen island, built-in cabinets or flooring that would be costly to replace, or when the same run has already leaked once. It takes that line out of the slab for good, so the next pinhole on it cannot happen there.
A repipe replaces a group of supply lines, or the whole system, usually running overhead. Materials are copper, PEX or CPVC, and the choice is explained with the quote. Repipes are permitted and inspected where the city requires it and carry a 3 year Bulwark labor warranty, the same as water line replacement.
It is the largest slab leak repair, and it is the one that ends the pattern of leak after leak. Once a house has leaked twice in different places, it is usually worth pricing a repipe next to another spot repair.
Call and we will walk through your slab leak repair options with you, or book a window online and have it confirmed on the spot.
Choose by how many times the house has leaked, where the leak sits, and what the rest of the pipe looks like. Those three things decide which slab leak repair will last, and the written prices let you weigh them against cost.
You do not have to decide on the spot. Where more than one slab leak repair is legitimate, you get both prices in writing, or all three, and you can take the time you need. If the leak is putting water on the floor, we can isolate the line so the house has water on the other side while you decide on the slab leak repair.
Because most DFW homes sit on concrete slabs over expansive clay. The Blackland Prairie soil swells when it is wet and shrinks when it dries, so the slab moves with the seasons, and the copper water lines under it move too.
Copper in the slab work-hardens as it flexes and wears pinholes where it rubs against concrete or bends. Hard water adds to the wear, and the February 2021 freeze split pipe across the area, some of which only showed up later. That is why slab leak repair is one of the most common calls a North Texas plumber runs, and why the first leak is rarely the last one on an old copper system.
Water under a slab can soften or wash out the soil that supports it, and in expansive clay it can make the soil swell unevenly. That is a good reason not to let a known leak run, and a good reason to get slab leak repair scheduled once the leak is found.
Whether a particular leak has affected the foundation is a question for a foundation professional, not a plumber. If you see new cracks in walls or tile, doors that stick, or floors that have shifted, have the foundation looked at separately. Our part is the plumbing: the slab leak repair itself, and restoring any concrete we opened.
Coverage varies by policy, so the only reliable answer comes from your insurer. Some homeowners policies pay for getting to the pipe and for water damage that resulted, without paying for the pipe repair itself. Some exclude it. Gradual leaks are often treated differently from sudden ones. Ask before slab leak repair starts if you plan to file.
What we do is document the slab leak repair. The recorded leak location, photos of the pipe before and after, and a written invoice that matches the quote all go to you. We do not tell you what your policy covers, because we cannot know that.
Repipes and water line replacement carry a 3 year Bulwark labor warranty. Other work, including a spot slab leak repair through the floor, carries the 1 year labor baseline. Any manufacturer warranty on materials is registered in your name.
The warranty covers our work on the section we repaired or replaced. It cannot cover old pipe elsewhere in the slab, which is one more reason a reroute or repipe is worth pricing on a house that has leaked before.
It depends on which option fits, where the leak is, the floor covering above it, and how far a reroute has to travel, so we do not publish a number that would not hold. What you can rely on when you book slab leak repair:
Every slab leak repair is done by Bulwark employees under Texas license 47173, never subcontracted, and your call is never sold to another company. Homeowners in Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville and Keller are a short drive from the shop. If water is actively on the floor, the 24/7 emergency line is the faster route.
There is no single best method. A spot repair through the slab suits one leak on pipe that is otherwise sound. A reroute suits a run that has leaked before or sits under flooring you want to keep. A partial or whole repipe suits pipe that is failing along its length. You get a written price for each option that fits your house, and you choose.
For a first leak on otherwise sound pipe, a direct slab leak repair at the marked spot is often the simplest fix. If that line has leaked before, or the leak sits under cabinets or flooring that is costly to replace, a reroute through the walls or attic usually makes more sense, because it takes the line out of the slab for good.
Only for a spot slab leak repair, and then only at the location recorded during leak detection. A reroute or repipe runs new pipe through walls and the attic, so the slab is not opened. The drywall openings are patched afterward.
A spot slab leak repair opens a section of the slab at the leak and restores the concrete afterward. Whether the leak itself has affected the soil or foundation is a question for a foundation professional, not a plumber. If you have cracks, sticking doors or uneven floors, have that checked separately.
Repipes are permitted and inspected where the city requires it. Whether a smaller slab leak repair needs a permit depends on the city and the scope of the job. We pull what is required and tell you up front which inspections apply.
Repipes and water line replacement carry a 3 year Bulwark labor warranty. Other repair work carries the 1 year labor baseline, including a spot slab leak repair. The warranty is written on your invoice.
It depends on your policy. Some policies treat getting to the pipe and repairing resulting water damage differently from fixing the pipe itself, and some exclude it. Ask your insurer before slab leak repair starts. We give you the recorded leak location, photos and a written invoice that matches the quote.
The price depends on which option fits, where the leak is, the floor covering above it and how far a reroute has to travel. Bulwark Plumbing quotes the diagnostic fee on the phone, credits it in full if you go ahead, and gives you a written flat price for each legitimate option before any work starts.
Tell us where the leak was found and whether it has leaked before, and we come back with a window. If water is on the floor, call instead: the line is answered around the clock.
Pick an arrival window and have it confirmed while you are still on the page. For anything actively flooding, call instead: the line is answered 24 hours a day.