Leak Detection Services in DeKalb, IL
A water meter that keeps ticking with every tap shut off means water is going somewhere. We find exactly where, before anybody opens a wall.
Under-slab leaks in DeKalb are usually under a basement floor, not under a house. Same physics, same tools, and the same rule: locate first, break concrete once.
The line between your meter and your house is your responsibility, it is buried below the frost line, and it is the leak nobody sees until the water bill or the soggy parkway gives it away.
A sewer line does not leak out under pressure — it leaks out slowly and lets groundwater and roots in. The camera tells you which, and where, and how bad.
Read this first: if you smell gas, do not investigate it. Get everyone out, then call 911 and Nicor Gas from outside.
In a short northern Illinois swim season, a leaking pool wastes water, chemicals and heat all at once — and undermines the deck while it does it.
A wet basement floor has four possible causes and four completely different fixes. Paying for the wrong one is the most common mistake homeowners here make.
Water is running right now. Here is exactly what to do in the next five minutes, then call us.
Finding the leak is half the work. The other half is choosing a repair that lasts longer than the next winter.
Water on the floor by the heater is not automatically a dead tank. Four of the five likely sources are inexpensive fixes.
An irrigation leak is the easiest leak in a DeKalb yard to ignore, because a wet lawn in July looks like a working sprinkler system.
Commercial leaks cost twice: the water and the downtime. Our job is to keep the second number near zero.
Not sure which one you need?
| What you’re seeing | Most likely | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Water bill jumped, house looks dry | Buried line, toilet or irrigation | Water leak detection |
| Warm or damp patch on the basement floor | Under-slab supply line | Slab leak detection |
| Green stripe across the front lawn | Service line between meter and house | Underground water line |
| Repeat backups, gurgling drains, sewer smell | Cracked or root-blocked lateral | Sewer line inspection |
| Rotten egg smell | Natural gas leak | Gas leak detection — call 911 and Nicor first |
| Pool dropping more than a quarter inch a day | Liner, fitting or buried pool line | Pool leak detection |
| Wet basement, unclear cause | Could be any of four things | Basement leak diagnosis |
| Water running right now | Burst line or failed fitting | 24 hour emergency |
| Puddle under the water heater | Often a fitting, not the tank | Water heater leaks |
| Summer-only bill spike, soggy lawn | Irrigation zone or valve | Sprinkler leaks |
| Tenant complaints, unexplained usage | Riser or unit-level leak | Commercial leak detection |
| Leak found, now what | Repair, re-route or repipe | Pipe repair & repiping |
| Not sure at all | Could be several things | Call (815) 849-0091 and describe it |
The equipment we actually use
- Ground and wall microphones. Amplified acoustic listening tuned to the frequency band escaping water produces, used to build a loudness map across a slab or a wall.
- Leak noise correlator. Two sensors on a buried line, measuring the time difference between the leak sound reaching each, computing distance. This is what finds a leak under a driveway without digging.
- Hydrogen-nitrogen tracer gas. A safe, inert mix that passes through concrete and soil and rises to a sensitive surface detector. The method that solves silent leaks in plastic pipe.
- Thermal imaging. Surface temperature differentials from hot-water leaks, read through tile, hardwood, drywall and concrete.
- Electromagnetic line locators and sondes. Because marking a leak position is useless unless you also know where the pipe runs and how deep.
- Self-levelling sewer cameras. High-resolution video with an onboard sonde so the defect can be located from the surface and marked in paint.
- Combustible gas detectors. Parts-per-million sensitivity for gas work, far below the threshold a person can smell.
- Moisture meters and pressure test equipment. The unglamorous tools that prove a leak exists and later prove the repair holds.
Questions about our leak detection services
Yes, and then we credit it toward the repair when we do the work. Locating is skilled labour with expensive equipment behind it, and pretending otherwise just means the cost gets buried in an inflated repair price. We tell you the number on the phone before we come out.
Often. Second-opinion calls usually come down to one of three things: a very slow leak in plastic pipe that needs tracer gas rather than acoustics, ambient noise that requires a night visit, or a leak that was never properly isolated to a zone before someone started listening. Tell us what has already been tried and we will start from there.
Yes. We are licensed plumbers who specialise in detection. Repairs, repipes, water heaters, valves, fixtures, gas lines and drains are all in scope. What we do not do is exterior waterproofing excavation, pool liner replacement or fire suppression alterations — we refer those out.
All of DeKalb County and the towns bordering it. DeKalb, Sycamore, Cortland and Malta are short runs; Genoa, Kingston, Kirkland, Waterman, Hinckley, Maple Park and Shabbona take longer and we will give you a realistic window.
Leak line, answered 24 hours
(815) 849-0091Call nowOne call does it. We work out what is likely wrong on the phone, quote before we come out, and book you in on the same call.