If your Lafayette meter keeps turning with every fixture off, or a stretch of floor feels warm or damp, a water line under the concrete may be leaking. The City owns the service line to the meter pit; from the pit to the home, and everything under it, belongs to the owner. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Lafayette.
Lafayette grew out of a coal-mining and farming past around its Old Town on Public Road, and its homes range from older houses near the center to newer subdivisions. City Public Works treats surface water from Baseline, Waneka and Goose Haven reservoirs and disinfects with chlorine. The city keeps a service line material inventory covering both city-owned and customer-owned portions and notifies owners if a line needs replacement. That inventory deals with the service line in the yard; pipe under the floor is a separate question. In older Lafayette houses, buried copper can wear thin where it rubs against gravel, while newer homes are more likely to have plastic lines that fail at a fitting. Basement floors count as slabs, so a leak can show up in a lower level just as easily.
Immediate steps
- Check the meter. Turn off all fixtures and irrigation, read the meter in the pit, wait an hour, and read it again.
- Listen at the toilets. A tank refilling on its own is the most common false alarm.
- Isolate the water heater. Close its cold inlet; if the meter stops, the leak is likely on the hot side.
- Look outside. A soggy line in the yard between the meter pit and the house points to the service line rather than the slab.
- Stop the damage. If water is surfacing indoors, close the main and pull rugs and furniture out of the way.
- Get a real locate. Pressure testing and acoustic listening should pinpoint the leak before concrete is cut.
Matching symptoms to causes
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Floor warm in a narrow path | Hot line leaking below |
| Meter creeping, no warm spots | Cold-side leak under the slab or a yard line leak |
| Wet carpet edge on a basement floor | Water working up through the slab |
| One shower with weak pressure | Leak on that branch |
| Hot water running out early | Heated water escaping before the tap |
What affects cost
- The time it takes to isolate and pinpoint the leak
- A spot repair through the concrete versus a reroute above the floor
- Tile, wood or finished basement surfaces that need restoring
- Drying and repair of anything already wet
- Permit requirements through the City of Lafayette Planning and Building Department
A plumber can explain after the locate which route offers better value for your house.
Slab Leak Repair questions in Lafayette
Who pays to fix a leak between the meter and the house?
The water bill jumped but nothing looks wet. What should I check?
Why does one patch of my floor feel warm?
Can PEX or other plastic pipe under concrete still leak?
More plumbing services in Lafayette
Slab Leak Repair nearby
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