Louisville Water Damage: What You Can Handle and What Needs a Plumber

Small Leaks You Can Usually Handle

Some leaks are visible, limited and easy to stop. If the water came from a single fixture, you caught it quickly and the surrounding materials dry out within a day or two, you may not need a plumber for the cleanup. You may still want one for the repair.

Situations that often fall in this category include the following.

• A drip from a loose slip nut under a bathroom sink
• A toilet tank sweating in humid weather and wetting the floor
• A faucet aerator or sprayer hose that leaked onto the counter
• A small spill from an overfilled sink or tub that you wiped up right away

Signs the Problem Is Bigger Than It Looks

Water does not stay where you see it. It runs along pipes, wicks into subfloor and settles inside wall cavities. Call for a professional assessment if any of these apply, even if the area looks dry now.

A plumbing damage inspection finds the source and shows how far the water traveled, so you are not guessing about what is behind the wall.

• You do not know where the water came from
• The leak was in a wall, ceiling or floor rather than at a fixture
• Flooring near a toilet, tub or dishwasher feels soft or has lifted
• The area still smells musty several days after cleanup
• Your water bill went up without a change in use
• Water reached a basement ceiling below a kitchen or bath

Pinhole Leaks in Mid-Century Copper

Much of Louisville's housing was built in the middle of the twentieth century, and many of those homes have copper supply lines that are now several decades old. Copper holds up well, but over time it can develop small pinhole leaks, often on hot water lines or near fittings. These leaks start as a fine spray or a slow drip inside a wall or above a finished basement ceiling.

One pinhole leak can be repaired with a short new section. Several within a short time suggest the pipe walls are thinning throughout that run. We look at the copper around the leak and tell you what we see. If replacement makes sense, our Louisville repiping service can replace the worn lines with new copper or PEX. For isolated leaks, our leak repair work is usually enough.

Kitchen and Laundry Leaks

Kitchens and laundry areas are where appliance connections live, and those connections fail without warning. A dishwasher supply line, a refrigerator ice maker tube or a washing machine hose can release a lot of water quickly. In many Louisville homes, the laundry is in the basement next to the furnace and water heater, so a burst hose puts all three at risk.

When restoring after an appliance leak, we replace the failed line, check the shutoff valve, and look for slow leaks that may have been hidden by the bigger one. Braided stainless supply lines and quarter-turn valves are simple upgrades that reduce the odds of a repeat.

How We Handle Restoration

Every job starts with a free estimate and damage inspection. You approve the repair plan before we start, and we finish with a quality inspection. We document the cause and repairs with photos for insurance purposes, and we keep the work area neat.

If groundwater was involved, we also check your sump pump. Homeowners in nearby Canton, North Canton, Hartville and Alliance can read more on our countywide restoration page.