There's a Warm Spot on My Floor
A patch of floor that's warm to the touch, often with the water heater running more than it should, is a hot supply line leaking under the slab or in the subfloor.
You notice it barefoot: one area of the floor is warmer than the rest. Maybe the water heater seems to run all the time, or the hot water takes longer to arrive, or the bill went up. On a slab-on-grade home that's a hot supply line leaking under the concrete; on a crawlspace home it's a hot line leaking under the subfloor and warming the boards above it. Either way the water is going into the ground or the soil under the house, and it's been doing it for a while.
Hot-side leaks are the easiest interior leaks to locate because they leave a trail. A thermal camera reads the warm plume through the slab or the floor and shows where it's hottest, which is at the break. Isolating the hot side at the water heater and watching a gauge confirms the loss. The acoustic sensor on the slab confirms the point. We mark it, and the floor is opened there only.
On a slab, our licensed plumbers open the concrete at the mark, repair or re-route the line, and patch the slab. On a crawlspace home it's simpler: the line is accessible from below and the floor is never touched. If the slab line is old copper that has failed before, re-routing the hot supply through the walls or attic is often the better answer than opening the floor again, and we'll lay that out.
What it usually means
A hot supply line leaking under the slab
Copper in direct contact with concrete or aggressive fill pinholes over time. The classic cause on slab homes from the 1960s through the 1990s.
A hot line leaking under a crawlspace floor
A pinhole or failed fitting under the subfloor warms the boards above. Accessible from below.
A recirculation loop fault
On homes with a hot water recirculation pump, a loop running constantly can warm a floor without any leak. We check the pump and the loop first.
Radiant heat, if the home has it
A radiant floor zone that's stuck on. Not a supply leak; a heating contractor's job.
What to check first
- Confirm the warm area with your hand and note its edges.
- Close every fixture and watch the water heater: does it fire with nothing running?
- Do the meter test with everything closed.
- Don't open the floor at the warm spot before it's located.
When to call
- The floor is warm with no radiant heat
- The water heater runs with nothing on
- The meter moves with everything closed
- You want one opening in the slab, not several
The fix
When it's a buried line or an exterior drain, the fix is interior Water Leak Detection: we locate first, open the ground once, repair or replace, and put the surface back. One crew, 24 hours a day. (206) 354-9906.
What it looks like when we find it
Warm spot on the floor, town by town
The likely causes shift with the ground, the housing era and the water utility. Pick your community.
Bremerton
The shipyard city's older galvanized lines fail quietly and show up as a wet lawn or a water bill nobody can explain.
Silverdale
The 1980s and 90s subdivision boom around the mall left thousands of polybutylene service lines that are now failing on schedule.
Port Orchard
The county seat's hillside lots and clay soils turn small leaks into slope problems, and long rural runs hide breaks for months.
Poulsbo
Little Norway's mix of century-old downtown lines and fast-draining bay-side outwash means leaks hide well and fail suddenly.
Bainbridge Island
Clay soils and 500-foot driveways make island leaks slow to surface and expensive to guess at, which is why we locate before we dig.
Kingston
Ferry-town acreage with long wooded service runs where a leak can hide under hardpan for an entire winter.
Keyport
A century-old Navy village with short lots, old lines and shoreline clay that keeps everything damp.
Tracyton
Bluff-side lots over Dyes Inlet where seeps and springs make it easy to mistake groundwater for a leak and vice versa.
Hansville
Beach cabins at the tip of the peninsula with shallow lines, high water tables and a long drive for anyone who isn't already in Kitsap.
Indianola
A century-old summer colony where shared lines, easements and bluff clay make leaks a neighborhood puzzle.
Suquamish
Two utilities, mixed-era housing and Agate Pass shoreline clay in the heart of the Port Madison reservation.
Manchester
Rich Passage waterfront lots where the service line runs downhill and every leak finds the beach.
Enetai
East Bremerton's bluff-side neighborhood where mid-century copper lines fail on slopes that drain toward the bay.
Lofall
Rural acreage between Poulsbo and the Hood Canal Bridge where well lines run hundreds of feet through hardpan.
Olalla
Well country at the south end of Kitsap where a leaking line shows up as a pump that won't shut off.
Seabeck
Hood Canal forest parcels where boulders, hardpan and long well lines make guessing at a leak an expensive mistake.
East Port Orchard
South Kitsap's 1970s and 80s subdivisions where copper and poly lines are reaching the end of their run.
Rollingbay
The northeast corner of Bainbridge where clay slopes, long drives and small community systems keep leaks hidden for seasons.
Port Townsend
A Victorian seaport where 1890s service lines sit under historic sidewalks and the gravity pipeline from the Quilcene delivers the water.
Questions
Is the leak under the warmest spot?
Can you avoid cutting the slab?
What fixes it
Interior Water Leak Detection
Pinpointing leaks on the supply lines inside the house: in walls, ceilings, crawlspaces and under slabs, without opening finishes on a guess.
Read more →Slab Leak Detection
Pinpoint water lines leaking under concrete slabs and basement floors, then open only what has to be opened.
Read more →Interior Water Line Repair
Licensed repair of leaking or failed supply lines inside the house: copper, galvanized, polybutylene, PEX and CPVC, at one opened spot.
Read more →Something underground isn't right?
We answer 24 hours a day. We locate before we dig, and we handle the whole job with our own crew and equipment.