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Find Out What You Are Standing On

This is the one thing on this site we would put before everything else, including calling us.

In one paragraph

Not every slab can be cut the same way. A post-tensioned slab holds steel tendons under load, and cutting one wrongly is a structural matter rather than a plumbing one. Establish which kind yours is, and who is qualified to say so, before a repair method is chosen.

UnderSlab is a referral service, not a contractor. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands, and work that opens a structural slab is normally permitted — ask to see the permit. We carry out no work and no leak detection, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.

Establish this before a repair method is chosen

Slabs are not all built the same way, and the differences matter a great deal to anyone who is about to cut one. Some are reinforced in ways that must not be cut without knowing exactly where the reinforcement runs.

We are not going to tell you what kind yours is, or how common each kind is, because we have no source we would stand behind for either. What we will tell you is that the question has an answer, that it is answerable before anyone starts, and that it belongs at the beginning.

Who can tell you

  • The original plans, if the house is recent enough and you have them.
  • Your local building department. They hold the permit record for the original construction.
  • A structural engineer. The right person to say what can be done to a particular slab, and independent of whoever wants to do it.
  • The builder, on a newer house.

Notice who is not on that list: us, and any plumbing contractor quoting for the repair. A contractor may well know, and a good one will raise it before you do — but the question is structural rather than plumbing, and the answer is worth having from somebody with nothing to sell you.

What to ask for in writing

What kind of slab it is, on what basis that was established, and whether the proposed repair requires cutting it at all. The fourth answer is sometimes "no" — a reroute leaves the concrete alone entirely, and that is occasionally the whole reason to choose one.

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If the meter moved with everything off, you have a leak.That is the finding worth leading with, because it saves an hour of diagnosis. We connect you with a contractor who covers your area, and your ZIP code is what decides who that is. You are never charged. It does not have to be a slab leak either — every kind of plumbing request is routed.

Call (888) 706-0205
Call (888) 706-0205