If you’ve seen your water bill skyrocket since the last one, either your water department decided to hike up the rates, or you’ve got a water line leak. The best bet for this one is that you’ve got the water line leak. Those can be very costly if you don’t take care of it quickly. Professionals like the ones at San Antonio water line repair are there to take care of this problem for you quickly and easily. But, if you’re dead-set on taking care of this problem on your own, here are some steps to follow to get the job done without too much difficulty.
The first thing to do is to locate the water line leak. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem since your going to be looking for a couple of things. One, you’re going to be looking for a big wet spot in your yard. Two, you’re going to find water shooting out of the ground creating a big wet spot in your yard. Both are huge indicators that the leak is right there. “X” marks the spot. But, what is there isn’t a huge wet spot or water shooting out of the ground? Just check for where the grass seems to be greener. If you step on it then it should be much softer compared to the rest of the yard. Now comes the work to get the line leak fixed.
The next part is to uncover the leak. Turn off the waterline. This for many newer homes is down near the street. but if you have an older home, the water line cut off handle may be nearer or up against the house. Just look for where the water meter is and you should be able to find the cut-off.
You are going to have to dig deep enough in that muddy water to expose the waterline. You may have to dig a little in each direction to make sure you find the source of the leak, and this is going to be some work. A “best practice” is to dig deep enough so you have about one foot exposed underneath the pipe. This way, it gives you some room to do work without mud and dirt getting in the way. Get rid of any roots near the pipe. Many times roots can be the cause of water line leaks.
When the source of the leak is located, go ahead and cut out the damaged and weakened part of the pipe. Another “best practice” is to cut at least six inches in each direction. This gives you plenty of good pipes to work with.
When you cut the section of pipe you need, make sure you give yourself a little room, about one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch shorter. Clean off both ends of the old pipe and new pipe, and sand the edges down. Make sure your new pipe includes couplings. Coupling ensures that your connections are going to be perfect since you’re not going to want to go through all this work again. You want it done right the first time.
When the couplings are in place and everything looks good and snug, gently turn the main water line on and check for leaks when it’s ready. If no leaks are seen, gently replace the dirt underneath the repaired water line and all around it.
Repairing a water line takes a little common sense, and quite a bit of work. But, the real professionals at San Antonio water line repair will do it right and guarantee their water line repair.
