water leak from main line

[terrifromohio]

I had a plumber out today because I have a water leak under the trailer. It is on a concrete pad. The main water line runs from the street up through the yard and I guess up under the concrete pad. I was told it is leaking right at the copper line where it comes out the the main line into the line that comes up into the house that is down in the concrete pad. I was also told I would have to call a special plumber that can do water line service and get special permits to dig down into the concrete pad to fix this.
Has anyone had this problem before? I can not imagine what this is going to cost. Any inout form anyone else would be appreciated.

[Greg]

Are you in a park or own land? If you are in a park, it's usually the park's responsibility up to your shutoff. If you are on a municipal system you could call the water dept. and get their take.

Permits depend on local laws. Usually licensed plumbers are exempt from permits since they are licensed & insured. Home owners can do the work, but it may require an inspection before everything is back filled.

Remember to call 811 and get all underground utilities marked BEFORE you have anyone dig, it's a free service and it helps keep you from any liability if something gets hit (gas or phone line) that's not supposed to be there.

Greg

[terrifromohio]

No we own the land. I can not do this work myself. This leak is in the concrete pad where the water main comes up and meets the line coming into the house. Its like a well, it goes down about two feet into the pad and the plumber said there is a copper line down there that comes off the main that is leaking. Thsi is also where the main shutoff for the house is. He said the concrete pad around it will have to be dug up so they can get to the line. Then it will have to be fixed and new concrete pad poured.
I am beside my self. I know this is going to cost thousands of dollars.
Why in the hell would you pour concrete pad over a water line? Some of the things they do in trailers make no sense at all. I have only lived in this place for about a year and half and its a money pit and you can`t find any one to work on them or that wants to.

[JD]

I would think that the plumber only needs to open up a fairly small hole, 1'-2', to give him room to work, then backfill some dirt and top it off with a bag of concrete. That does not seem to be so bad to me, but I can't see the work.

If this ends up as an expensive fix, it seems to me that it would be easier to run new water line from an area at the edge of the pad and abandon the pipe under the pad. Then insulate the pipe from the ground to your underbelly insulation like they do at mobile home parks.

JMO

[Greg]

OK, first the line being run under the slab has nothing to do with a "trailer". It is simply poor planning on who ever ran the water line's part.

As JD said, you could make a saw cut in the pad and remove a 12" wide section then make a repair to the concrete. I personally would simply run a new line around the pad and tie into the water line, this should be quicker and less expensive. You should be able to do much of the work yourself to reduce costs. As I said the first thing you need to do is get the underground marked. Once you have things marked, you can rent a trencher at most rental houses and dig the new trench. That should take an hour or so to do, but you will still need to hand dig around other utilities to keep from damaging them and at the end by the old waterline to do the tie in.

If you do as much of the work as possible there is really no reason that the cost should be in the thousands of dollars. Around here a trencher rents for $150/day (you should be able to find 1/2 day rates), Materials another $200 (max). the rest is labor, the more you do the less you need to pay for.

Like most repairs it is not a really hard job, but it does take some time. Do it once, do it right

Greg

[JD]

I wasn't thinking they would need to trench. The water line has to reach the concrete pad somewhere, and the re-route could happen right there at the pad. Am I missing something here?

[Greg]

I guess you could go above ground at the edge of the pad and use insulation. I think I am the one over complicating, oops.

Come on, EVERYONE knows you need BIG tools to get a job like that done. Just ask any doctor!!

Greg