Leak Detection
Hidden leaks waste water, damage your home, and cost you money every day they go undetected. Our advanced technology finds leaks fast so we can fix them before the damage spreads.
Signs You May Have a Hidden Leak
Most leaks are not obvious. They hide behind walls, under floors, and underground. Here is how to tell if you might have one.
Water bill spiked with no change in use
A PWSA bill that jumped 30-40% while your family of four did the same laundry and took the same showers as always — that's a hidden leak. Check the leak indicator on your meter: if it spins with every fixture off, the leak is confirmed.
Tea-colored stain or bubbling paint
The moment a ceiling spot turns yellow-brown, water has been working the drywall for a while. In Pittsburgh's plaster-wall older homes, a leak can travel three feet along a stud before showing on the finished side.
Musty smell in a basement or closet
Moisture that's feeding unseen mildew growth has a smell before it has a visible stain. If one room in the house smells damp and the rest of the house doesn't, a pinhole is feeding something behind the wall.
You can hear water moving with everything off
Stand in the quietest spot in the house after everyone's asleep and listen. A soft hiss or trickle inside a wall, under a sink, or near the main shutoff is usually a pressurized line that's letting go somewhere.
Warm patch on a slab floor
Older slab-on-grade homes in places like Beechview and Crafton often have hot-water supply lines routed through the slab. A pinhole in a hot line shows up as a patch of floor that's unexpectedly warm to bare feet.
Pressure drops and won't come back
A slow, progressive drop in pressure across the whole house (not just one fixture) usually means water is leaving the system before it reaches you — either a main-line leak outside or a hidden leak in the branch lines.
How We Find Hidden Leaks
We do not tear apart your home looking for leaks. Our advanced technology lets us find the exact source of a leak with minimal disruption to your walls, floors, and landscaping.
Acoustic listening equipment
Water escaping a pressurized line makes a specific hiss. Our ground microphone and in-wall probe amplify it enough to locate a leak to within a foot or so, even through a concrete slab or a finished basement wall.
Locates pressurized leaks to within 6-12 inches through slab or wall
Thermal imaging camera
A hot-water pipe leak warms the surrounding building material; a cold-water leak cools it. Infrared shows the temperature signature long before you'd see a stain — especially useful for slab leaks and leaks in ceilings below bathrooms.
Non-invasive scan identifies moisture patterns before visible damage
Push-cable line camera
For drain-side leaks — cracked waste stacks, broken cast-iron laterals, failing hub joints — we use an HD push camera with a sonde, so we can locate the exact point and depth from above ground and mark it with paint.
Visual confirmation plus within-inches locator marking
Types of Leaks We Find and Fix
Slab leaks (Beechview, Crafton, older ranches)
Copper supply lines routed through a concrete slab develop pinholes from flux corrosion, slight acidity in the water, or abrasion against the slab itself. Common on 1950s-60s single-story homes in the western neighborhoods.
Watch for: Warm spot on the floor, constant sound of moving water, a crack in the slab or tile, and a water bill that quietly climbed over several months.
Behind-wall pressure leaks
Pinholes in copper, failed CPVC fittings, and split PEX at a bad crimp all cause hidden in-wall leaks. In older Pittsburgh homes, galvanized supply corroding through near a fitting is the classic failure.
Watch for: Staining on a ceiling below, bubbling paint, new cracks in plaster, and that specific musty smell that won't go away.
Fixture and supply-stop leaks
Toilet supply lines, braided washer hoses, and 20-year-old angle stops are the three biggest quiet-leak culprits. They weep slowly for months before someone notices the warped baseboard.
Watch for: Soft or black floor around a toilet, stain on cabinet floor under a sink, calcified ring on a valve body.
Underground main-line leaks
The service line between the water authority curb stop and your house can develop leaks anywhere along its run — especially if it's lead or galvanized from before a street repaving, or copper damaged by settling ground.
Watch for: Unusually green or soggy strip of grass along the line's path, a water bill with no indoor explanation, and low pressure that's worst in the fixtures closest to the meter.
Why Early Leak Detection Saves You Money
Water Bill Savings
A leak the width of a pencil tip can waste over 900 gallons per month. Finding and fixing it immediately saves you money on every water bill going forward.
Prevent Structural Damage
Water behind walls rots framing, destroys drywall, and weakens your home. A leak that costs a few hundred to fix today can cause thousands in structural damage tomorrow.
Avoid Mold Remediation
Mold can grow within 24-48 hours of water exposure. Professional mold remediation can cost $1,000-$10,000 or more. Fixing the leak early prevents this entirely.
Quick DIY Leak Check: Read Your Water Meter
Before calling us, you can confirm whether you have a leak with this simple test:
- 1Turn off every faucet, appliance, and fixture that uses water in your home.
- 2Find your water meter (usually near the street or sidewalk) and check the flow indicator or read the numbers.
- 3Wait 15-30 minutes without using any water.
- 4Check the meter again. If it has moved, you have a leak somewhere in your system. Give us a call.
Stop Hidden Leaks Before They Stop You
Hoffman Plumbing uses professional-grade detection technology to find leaks fast and fix them right. Serving Pittsburgh, McDonald, and all surrounding communities.
Licensed Plumbers • Advanced Technology • Non-Invasive Detection • Serving McDonald & Greater Pittsburgh