Slab Leak Signs: Test It Before You Panic
Confirm first, then bring in a pro
Do this now
- Run the meter test: stop all water use for two hours, reading the meter before and after. If the reading changes at all, you probably have a leak.
- Watch the meter's small leak-detection dial: with everything off, nothing should move.
- Narrow it down: close the house's main shutoff and watch the meter again. Still spinning means the leak is between the meter and the house; stopped means it's inside.
- Walk the yard and the slab: soggy spots outside, and warm floor patches, damp flooring or the sound of running water inside.
- If you confirm a leak you can't see, keep the main off except when you need water, and line up a plumber now. Utilities told homeowners exactly that during the 2022 freeze: keep it off until repaired.
Can you fix it yourself?
The meter test and the shutoff isolation are free and tell you a lot. Everything after that is specialist territory: acoustic and pressure location gear to pinpoint the leak, then a choice between jackhammering to the spot, rerouting the line overhead, or repiping. One honest warning that applies to any buried-line work: in Georgia, mechanized digging means contacting 811 at least three business days first.
When to call a pro
- The meter moves with the house shutoff closed, meaning the buried service line leaks
- Warm spots, buckling floors or persistent damp on the slab
- A water bill jump you can't explain after checking toilets and faucets
- Any repair plan: location accuracy is the whole game in slab work, and pros carry the gear for it
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What to ask the plumber
- Will you pinpoint the leak with detection equipment before any concrete is opened?
- Spot repair, reroute, or repipe: which do you recommend here and why?
- Does the quote include breaking and patching the slab, or is flooring repair on me?
- Does my utility offer a leak adjustment on the bill, and will you document the repair for it? Gwinnett, for one, offers an adjustment once in 12 months when the repair happens within three months.
Questions we hear
Whose leak is it, mine or the utility's?
The meter is the property line of responsibility everywhere in our metro: Cobb's water system says a leak after the meter is the owner's, Atlanta's watershed department splits it the same way, and Gwinnett states it won't repair leaks on the customer's side, house side of the meter included. Before the meter, call the utility, not a plumber.
How much water does a hidden leak waste?
EPA WaterSense puts average household leaks at more than 9,300 gallons a year, and says a family of four topping 12,000 gallons in a winter month probably has a serious leak. A slab leak runs around the clock, which is why the bill is often the first symptom.
Is 'slab leak' even an official term?
No agency defines it; it's trade shorthand for a pressurized line leaking under the slab. The testing above is just standard hidden-leak detection from EPA and metro utilities applied to a house on a slab, which is most of metro Atlanta's newer stock.
Sources
Every number and local fact above comes from one of these, read 2026/10. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
- U.S. EPA WaterSense: Fix a Leak Week
- Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources: Leak Detection
- Cobb County Water System: Water Leaks
- Clayton County Water Authority: Officials Seeing Slow Improvements in Tank Levels and System Pressures (Dec. 28, 2022)
- Georgia 811: Who We Are
- City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management: Report a Problem
- Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources: Customer Care FAQs