The 10-Minute Monthly Leak Inspection

Nearly every expensive water loss we attend was preceded by weeks of visible warning in a place nobody looked. Under a sink. Behind the washing machine. At the base of the water heater.

This walkthrough takes about ten minutes. Do it monthly and you will catch most of it while it is still a small repair.

Start with the meter — two minutes

Before you look at anything, run the meter test. Turn off every water-using fixture and appliance in the house, including the ice maker and the irrigation controller. Then find your meter and watch the small triangle, dial, or star for a few minutes.

If it moves, water is escaping somewhere in the pressurized system. That single test catches slab leaks, service line leaks, and hidden supply failures that produce no visible symptoms at all.

Under every sink — three minutes

• Run your hand along the supply lines and the angle stops, feeling for damp
• Look at the base of the cabinet for staining, swelling, or a dark ring
• Check the P-trap and the drain connection for drips or corrosion
• Look at the back of the cabinet where pipes enter the wall
• Under the kitchen sink, check the dishwasher drain connection specifically
• Note the age of braided supply lines — replace anything over about seven years

Behind the washing machine — one minute

Pull the machine out far enough to see the hoses, or use a phone camera and torch behind it.

You are looking for bulges, cracks, blisters, rust at the crimps, and any damp on the wall or floor. Rubber hoses should be replaced every five years and swapped for braided stainless; braided should be checked and replaced around ten. Write the date on them when you fit them.

The water heater — one minute

• Look for any moisture at the base of the tank — this usually means the inner tank has corroded through
• Check for rust along the bottom seam
• Look at the wall behind and beside it for staining or white efflorescence
• Check the temperature and pressure relief valve discharge pipe for signs of water
• Confirm the seismic straps are present, two of them, and anchored into framing rather than drywall
• Note the manufacture date — past ten years, start planning replacement

Toilets — one minute

Feel around the base for damp, and look for any discoloration or lifting of the flooring around it. A toilet that rocks slightly when you sit on it has a compromised seal at the flange, which leaks slowly into the subfloor.

Check the supply line and angle stop behind it, and lift the tank lid to look for a running fill valve — a toilet that refills periodically without being used is leaking internally, which is money rather than damage but worth fixing.

Ceilings and wall bases — two minutes

Walk each room and look at two things: the ceiling, and the bottom six inches of the walls.

• Ceiling stains, rings, or discoloration, particularly around fixtures and vents
• Bubbling or peeling paint on a ceiling
• Baseboards that have swollen, stained, or pulled away from the wall
• Flooring that has cupped, lifted, or discolored at the edge of a room
• Any patch of drywall that feels soft when pressed
• Dark spotting low on a wall or inside a closet

Downey-specific additions

Two extra checks worth making here depending on your housing type.

If you are on a slab — the 1960s–70s tracts across South Downey, Apollo, and the Warren High area — walk the floor barefoot occasionally, feeling for a warm spot. That is the most reliable early indicator of a hot-water slab leak, and it appears long before anything else.

If you are on a raised foundation — North Downey, Downtown Downey, the Woodruff/Florence corridor — open the crawl space hatch and shine a light across the soil a couple of times a year. You are looking for standing water, sagging or fallen insulation, and a vapor barrier that has floated or torn. That is where a leak's water actually goes in these houses, and nobody looks.

Outdoors — one minute

• A patch of lawn that is greener, faster-growing, or soggier than the rest — often an irrigation or service line leak
• Damp or efflorescence on the foundation or stem wall
• Hose bibs dripping or damp at the wall penetration
• Any new depression or sinkhole along the route of the sewer line

Once a year, add these

1. Flush the water heater and check the anode rod
2. Clear yard and area drains and confirm they flow
3. Have the roof inspected, particularly after any wind event
4. Test the main shut-off valve by closing and reopening it
5. Test the sump pump if you have one

If something on this list looks wrong and you are not sure how serious it is, call. There is no charge for us telling you it is minor, and finding out early is the entire point of the exercise.