According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, roughly 10% of American homes have plumbing leaks that waste at least 90 gallons of water each day. Many others also have smaller leaks that could help homeowners save about 10% on their water bills if fixed.
If you own a house, you should know how to find a water leak if you sense that there might be one in your home. You should be on the lookout for water leaks at all times and make the necessary plumbing repairs to fix them.
Today, we’re going to go through several of the steps that you can take to detect a water leak. It doesn’t matter if you have an obvious water leak in your home or a hidden water leak. You should be able to pinpoint the source of it so that you can fix a water leak ASAP.
Here is how to find a water leak in a few simple steps.
Begin by Sneaking a Peek at Your Home’s Water Meter
When was the last time you took a good, long look at your home’s water meter to see if it could shine a light on any trouble that might exist within your plumbing system? If it’s been a little while now, you should try to get into the habit of doing it.
Before you do, make sure that all of the plumbing fixtures in your home are turned off. Then, head over to wherever your home’s water meter is located and look at it.
If you don’t have any water leaks in your home, your water meter won’t be moving at all. But if you do have even a minor leak, you will find that the dial on your water meter will be spinning.
This is almost always a surefire sign that you’re going to have to figure out how to find a water leak. It’ll show you that you should do some more digging around to see where you might have a leak in your home.
Take a Look at Your Home’s Faucets for Signs of Water Leaks
When you’re first trying to find a water leak in your home, you should look around at each of your faucets. They’re some of the most common culprits when it comes to water leaks in your home.
Something as simple as a worn-out washer on a faucet can cause a plumbing leak in your home. You can either replace a washer like this yourself or find out how to find a plumber who can help you with it.
Either way, you shouldn’t let a leaky faucet continue to leak for any longer than you have to. It’s going to end up wasting more water than you might think it will if you don’t spring into action.
Look Underneath Your Home’s Sinks to See If You Can Spot Leaks
In addition to looking at the faucets in your home to see if they might be leaking, you should also look under your home’s sinks to see if there are any leaks there. It’s not uncommon at all for leaks to pop up in pipes that are situated under sinks in kitchens, bathrooms, utility rooms, etc.
If you keep on using these sinks in spite of the leaks that they’re causing, you could make a bad situation so much worse. You’re going to end up with quite a bit of wastewater under your sinks, which can do damage to cabinetry and eventually lead to mold growth.
Check Out Ceilings, Walls, Floors, Etc. for Any Indications of Leaks
The leaks that we’ve talked about thus far should be fairly easy to spot in your home. You’re going to see water leaking when you have a leaky faucet or a leaking water pipe under a sink.
But if you have a leak in a plumbing pipe that runs above a ceiling, behind a wall, or underneath a floor, you might not notice it right away. A hidden water leak can go undetected for weeks, months, and sometimes even years on end.
But at some point, you should start to see signs of water leaks that are hidden above ceilings, behind walls, and underneath floors. Water will start to cause discolorations to appear and suggest that you need to get some help with your plumbing system.
Keep a Close Eye on Your Water Bills to See If You Might Have Leaks
If you don’t do anything else on this list, you should make it a point to monitor how much water your home is using by checking out your water bills. You can learn a lot about whether or not you might have a plumbing leak by browsing through your water bill.
If it seems as though your household is suddenly using way more water than you used to, that should tell you something. You might need to fix a water leak in your home to turn this trend around.
There may be a chance that your increased water bills are simply a sign of increased water charges being imposed on you. But before you assume that this is the case, you should use everything you’ve learned about how to find a water leak to see if a leak might be the cause of the problem.
Knowing How to Find a Water Leak in Your Home Is Important
Many homeowners are under the impression that a water leak in their houses will be obvious to them. They think that it’ll be impossible for them to miss the signs of a leak.
But in reality, it’s very easy to not realize that you have a water leak in your home. It’s why you need to know how to find a water leak and, more importantly, it’s why you need to make it your mission to look out for water leaks all the time.
Get more tips on maintaining your house by reading through the other home improvement articles found on our blog.
