The meter never lies
The cleanest test costs nothing: turn off every fixture, then watch the water meter. Movement with everything off means water is going somewhere it should not.
A bill that climbs across two or three cycles without a lifestyle change is the same signal arriving by mail.
What slab leaks feel like
Hot-side slab leaks announce themselves as unexplained warm patches underfoot. Cool damp spots, lifting flooring, and hairline cracks that darken after rain-free weeks tell the cold-side story.
Charleston's soils move with moisture, and older homes have seen decades of it — supply lines under slabs carry that history.
What crawl-space leaks smell like
Most of our housing stock stands over crawl spaces, where leaks drip quietly onto soil and joists. The house above notices as mustiness that cleaning never fixes, cupping floorboards, or humidity the AC cannot conquer.
A seasonal crawl-space glance — or having us look while servicing equipment down there — catches these while they are still plumbing problems rather than framing problems.
Why speed matters here
In a dry climate a slow leak is a nuisance; in ours it is a mold farm with a start date. Wood, insulation, and ductwork under a Lowcountry home stay wet once soaked.
Professional leak detection finds the source without exploratory demolition, and repair scope stays small when the timeline does.
