The supply line that gives up
Toilet supplies, ice-maker lines, and washing-machine hoses fail without a storm. The braided line or the old rubber hose splits, and the water runs until someone shuts the valve. On a slab house in Oak Forest or Meyerland, that water has nowhere to fall. It crosses the concrete, wicks into the drywall, and slips under vinyl or wood. The carpet can look dark in a circle while the pad is wet three feet farther.
In a Montrose or Garden Oaks bungalow the same line can dump into a crawlspace. The living room stays almost dry while the subfloor and the insulation between the joists get soaked. We look under the house when there is a way in. A meter on the floor tells us whether the room above is part of the dry-out. Guessing from the stain misses the wet edge.
A hard freeze is the Houston version of this leak. Attic lines in two-story houses in Cypress, Kingwood, and Tomball split when the cold gets to them. The water shows up as a ceiling stain, then a drip, then a wet room below. Exterior-wall lines in ranch houses do the same at the baseboard. Open a faucet after the main is off so the pressure drops. Do not thaw a pipe with an open flame.
Water heaters
A lot of Houston heaters sit in the garage or in an interior closet on the slab. The tank or a fitting lets go, the pan fills, and the pan drain is clogged or was never piped anywhere useful. Water leaves the garage and finds the hall. The water heater can look like the whole problem while the wet drywall is already in the bedroom.
Second-floor and attic heaters, common in newer two-story plans, drop water through the ceiling. The stain is the advertisement. The insulation is the wet material. We open what the meter says is wet and we leave it open until it is dry. Replacing the tank before the ceiling is dry just parks a new heater over a wet house. If you are filing, photograph the heater, the pan, and the rooms the water reached.
Dishwashers
A dishwasher leak usually starts small: a door seal, a hose, or a supply line under the sink. It wets the particle-board bottom of the cabinet, then the floor in front of the machine. The cabinet face can look fine. Kneel down and look at the toe kick. Swollen board is a record of water, not a stain you paint over.
On a slab kitchen the water travels under vinyl or wood into the next room. There is no crawlspace to catch it. Pull the machine out only if you can do it without creating a bigger flood, and shut the supply. Photograph the cabinet bottom before anyone throws it away. A kitchen remodel and a dishwasher leak can share a room. Dry the leak first. Choose the new cabinets after the floor is dry.
Toilets
A toilet overflows because the drain clogged, or it leaks because the supply, the wax ring, or the tank failed. Those are different. An overflow is often a one-time flood across the bath floor. A wax-ring leak can seep into the subfloor for weeks and rot the deck around the flange while the bath looks almost normal. We look at the ceiling below a second-floor bath, not only the tile you can see.
Shut the valve on the wall behind the toilet if the supply is the problem. If the bowl is overflowing, stop using every drain on that line until the clog is cleared. Clean water and drain water are not the same mess. Say which one it was. Policies ask. We are not public adjusters. We do not rename a slow seep as a sudden flood. We dry the materials that are wet and repair what you hire.
What all four have in common
Stop the water. Kill power to the wet room if you can do it from a dry place. Photograph. Then dry the structure, not just the puddle. Houston humidity keeps a slab and a wall wet after the surface looks fine. Fans from the closet do not pull moisture out of drywall. Baseboard that is swollen is telling you the water got into the wall.
Call (713) 909-0034 if the water reached the building. A towel is enough for a cup of water on a tile floor you caught immediately. It is not enough for a ceiling, a swollen cabinet, or a carpet pad. Family-owned since 1993. If you are filing, call your insurer the same day. Read the policy or ask them how a sudden leak differs from a long seep.
- Supply break: shut the main, open a faucet, photograph the split if you can see it.
- Heater: shut it down, check the pan, follow the water out of the closet or the garage.
- Dishwasher: look at the cabinet bottom and the floor in front.
- Toilet: find out whether it overflowed once or seeped at the base.
After the water stops
The rebuild waits on dry materials. New flooring over a damp slab cups, smells, or comes loose. New drywall over wet studs does the same. We meter, we dry, and then we talk about paint, floors, and cabinets. If the kitchen was already a remodel you wanted, this is the moment to separate the repair from the new layout. Do not demo the dream kitchen on top of a wet slab.
Friendswood, Cypress, and Spring houses on slabs all behave this way. The neighborhood changes the driveway and the roof. The slab leak changes the floor. Tell us which fixture failed and which rooms look wrong. We will map the rest.
Questions
Good to know.
Which shutoff do I use?
The valve at the toilet, heater, or dishwasher stops that fixture if it still turns. If the pipe itself split, use the main shutoff for the house. Do not stand in water near outlets to reach it.
Is a slow drip the same as a burst?
No. A sudden break and a leak that seeped for months are described differently, and policies often treat them differently. We photograph what we can see. Your insurer decides which words match the policy.
Can the cabinet be saved?
Sometimes the box is solid and only the particle-board bottom swelled. Sometimes the cabinet is done. We look at the toe kick and the floor in front, not only the door.
Do you file the claim?
You file. We are not public adjusters. We dry, document, and repair what you hire.