Square opening cut through a tile floor and concrete slab to reach a leaking water line

Slab Leak Water Damage in Dallas

A warm spot in the floor, a water bill that jumped, the hiss of water with every tap closed. A plumber finds the pipe; for the wet floors, call the line and get connected with a DFW restoration company.

Call (469) 649-7066 Signs of a slab leak

A slab leak in Dallas is two problems, not one

Many Dallas-Fort Worth houses were built on concrete slab foundations, and the supply and drain pipes are buried in the soil beneath the concrete or cast inside it. When one of those lines leaks, water has nowhere to go but out into the soil and up into the house.

That is why a slab leak in Dallas usually needs two trades. A plumber finds the leak, stops it and repairs the pipe. A water damage restoration company deals with what the leak has already done inside: wet flooring, swollen baseboards, damp drywall and the mold risk that comes with all of it.

Water Damage Pro Dallas handles neither job. It is a free phone line that puts water damage callers through to an independent, locally owned DFW restoration company. This page explains who does what, so the right people are on the job in the right order.

Plumber in ear protection kneeling on a tile floor with a toolbox, checking for a hidden leak

Signs of a slab leak

Slab leaks hide well. These are the clues people in DFW most often notice first, usually one at a time.

The water bill jumps

Usage climbs and nothing about the household changed. A steady leak under the slab runs day and night.

Water running with every tap off

A hiss or rush in a wall or floor when the house is quiet and nothing is turned on.

A warm or damp floor spot

A leak on the hot water line can warm the tile or wood above it. A cold line can leave a damp patch instead.

Wet carpet, cupped wood

Carpet damp at one edge, wood planks lifting at the seams, or vinyl that bubbles, far from any sink or tub.

Musty smell, new stains

Stained, swollen baseboards along one wall, or a smell of mildew that will not go away.

Water outside the house

A damp line of soil or grass along the foundation that stays wet in dry weather.

One simple check: with every tap and appliance off, look at your water meter. If it keeps moving, water is leaving the pipes somewhere. A plumber can then test the lines to see whether that somewhere is under the slab.

Why DFW slabs and pipes take a beating

Much of North Texas sits on Blackland Prairie clay, soil with high shrink-swell potential. It swells when it gets wet and shrinks when it dries, and a slab poured on top moves with it, a little each season. Pipes under the slab ride along. A study of 228 foundation failures in Dallas County, cited in Water and Wastes Digest, tied most of the damage to high shrink-swell soils, and the same movement can stress the water and sewer lines beneath a house.

Long dry summers followed by heavy rain, deep cracks that open beside the foundation in August, and soil that pulls away from the slab edge are all part of the same cycle. None of it means your pipes will fail, but it explains why slab leaks are a familiar term to plumbers across DFW.

What the plumber does

Finding and fixing the leak is plumbing work. A plumber will typically:

Isolate the line. Pressure test the hot, cold and sometimes sewer lines to learn which one is losing water.
Pinpoint it. Electronic listening equipment, and sometimes thermal imaging, narrow down where under the floor the leak sits.
Choose a repair. The usual options are breaking through the slab at the leak and repairing the pipe, tunneling under the foundation from outside to reach it, or rerouting the line through the walls or attic and abandoning the leaking section.
Test and close. Pressure test the repair and patch the slab or tunnel.

In Texas, plumbers are licensed by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE). Its public license search shows whether a license is active, when it expires and any disciplinary action. TSBPE also says estimates and invoices should show the responsible master plumber's license number along with the board's contact information. Ask for the number and look it up before work starts.

Deep cracks in dry clay soil beside the concrete foundation of a brick home

What the restoration company does

Once the leak is stopped, or at least the water to that line is shut off, the restoration company works on the house itself.

Area	What usually happens	Why
Moisture mapping	Readings across floors and the bottoms of walls to find how far water spread	Slab water spreads sideways under flooring well past the leak
Carpet and pad	Pad usually pulled; carpet lifted, dried or replaced	Pad holds water against the slab
Wood and laminate	Often removed in the wet area	Water trapped under planks keeps the slab wet and cups the boards
Tile	Often left in place; the slab is dried around it	Tile itself does not absorb much, but grout and the slab below can stay wet
Baseboards and drywall	Baseboards off, lower drywall checked and opened if wet	Water wicks up into the wall from the floor
Drying	Dehumidifiers and air movers, sometimes mats or panels that pull moisture from the slab	Concrete dries slowly and counts as a hard-to-dry material

Concrete is one of the dense materials the IICRC S500 standard places in Class 4, specialty drying, so a slab that has been wet for weeks can take longer than a soaked carpet on a dry floor. Ask the company for its readings each visit and for its plan if the slab is slow to dry.

Wet bedroom carpet cut and pulled back from the bare concrete underneath

Order of operations when you find a slab leak in Dallas

Shut the water off at your private valve. In Dallas, 311 can reach Dallas Water Utilities for a turn-off at the meter. If only the hot line is leaking, a plumber may be able to isolate it so the house keeps cold water.
Keep safe. Stay away from water near outlets and cords; touch the breaker panel only while standing on dry ground, and if that is not possible, phone Oncor or an electrician. A smell of gas means getting out first, then calling 911 and Atmos Energy.
Photograph the wet floors, baseboards and the meter reading.
Call your insurer and ask what the policy covers for the water damage, the plumbing repair and getting access to the pipe.
Call a licensed plumber for detection and repair. Check the license on the TSBPE search.
Phone the line and ask for a restoration company for the drying. It can often begin while the plumber's repair is being scheduled.

Ask your insurer, not the contractor. Guidance from the Texas Department of Insurance separates water that shows up suddenly and by accident, like a split pipe, an overflowing toilet or a failed washer hose, which most home and renter policies include, from slow leaks and seepage, which they usually leave out. Flooding is excluded from home policies altogether and needs a separate flood policy. Insurers can also refuse a claim when the owner did not take reasonable steps to limit further damage. Before you sign for any work, pull out your policy and call the insurer about what it includes. More on water damage and insurance.

Questions to ask before anyone opens your floor

To the plumber: What is your TSBPE license number? Which line is leaking, and how did you confirm it?
To the plumber: Why break through the slab here instead of tunneling or rerouting? What does each option cost and change?
To the plumber: Does this repair need a city permit, and will you pull it?
To the restoration company: How far has the water spread, and can you show me the readings?
To the restoration company: What flooring will you remove, and will you photograph it for my insurer?
To both: Will you put your estimate in writing before starting, and can you work around each other's schedule?

The checklist for vetting a water damage company lists the credentials worth asking a restoration company about.

How a call to the line works

Call the numberAn automated assistant answers (469) 649-7066 at any hour and asks what you need help with. The same number answers other home service calls too, so start with "water damage" or "mold".
Describe what happenedA burst pipe, standing water, a wet ceiling, a slab leak, a sewage backup or mold, plus your town and whether water is still coming in.
Get transferredWater damage calls go to an independent, locally owned DFW restoration company; mold removal calls go to an independent mold remediation company. Each hears a short summary before it picks up. Mold testing calls are taken as a message for now.
Deal with that company directlyIt inspects, quotes and does the work, and you pay it (or your insurer does, as you arrange). If it cannot answer, it gets your name, number, city and problem so it can call you back.

About this line: Water Damage Pro Dallas is a free phone line, not a restoration or mold company. It answers your call and connects you with an independent local company, which inspects, quotes and does the work, and which you pay directly. Companies may pay a referral fee. Calling the line costs you nothing. See how a call is handled.

More pages that may help

DFW towns covered by the line

Slab leak questions Dallas homeowners ask

How much does a slab leak cost to fix?

The plumbing side has published averages. Angi's cost guide, based on HomeAdvisor data, puts typical slab leak repair at roughly $630 to $4,400, about $2,300 on average, with leak detection alone around $150 to $600. Those figures cover the pipe, not drying or replacing the floors. Water damage work is a separate estimate from a separate company. Real quotes in DFW vary with the repair method and how far the water spread; ask for each in writing.

Who do I call for water leak detection in Dallas?

A licensed plumber. Leak detection under a slab is plumbing work: the plumber pressure tests the lines, listens for the leak with electronic equipment and pinpoints where to open the floor. In Texas, plumbers are licensed by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, and you can check any license on the board's public search. A restoration company comes in for the damage: wet flooring, baseboards and drywall.

Can a slab leak cause mold?

Yes. Water from a slab leak comes up under flooring and into the bottom of walls, where it stays dark and damp, sometimes for weeks before anyone notices. That is the setting mold likes. Once the plumber has stopped the leak, have the wet areas measured and dried. Growth covering 25 contiguous square feet or more is usually a job for licensed professionals under Texas rules: one licensed to assess it and a different one licensed to remediate it. See mold remediation.

Does homeowners insurance cover a slab leak in Texas?

It depends on the policy and on how the damage happened. Guidance from TDI, the state insurance regulator, separates water damage that happens suddenly and by accident, which is commonly covered, from slow leaks and seepage over time, which commonly is not. A slab leak can be either, so describe it accurately and ask your insurer what the policy covers for the water damage, the plumbing repair and the cost of getting to the pipe. Read the insurance guide.

Does Water Damage Pro Dallas send a plumber?

No. The line does not send plumbers and does not repair pipes. It is a free phone line. The automated assistant that answers sends water damage calls on to a DFW restoration company that is independent of the line, which handles drying and repairs to the house. Arrange the plumber yourself, and check the plumbing license on the state board's search before you hire.

Floors wet from a slab leak? Call the free DFW line

Say what happened and which town you are in. The automated assistant passes a water damage call to an independent, locally owned DFW restoration company, and a mold removal call to an independent mold remediation company. That company comes out, sees the damage and prices the work itself.

Call (469) 649-7066

Answers day or nightPipes burst at 3 a.m. and storms roll in after dark. The assistant picks up at any hour, every day of the year.
Free to callThe line never bills you. Any price comes from the company you are connected with, and you can ask for it in writing.
Mold testing is separateTexas keeps the mold assessor and the remediator on one job apart, so testing calls are taken as a message.
You decideHear what the company found, read its estimate, ask your insurer your questions, and say yes only when it makes sense.