Water leaves a house in a few predictable places. A fitting inside a wall, a supply line under a sink, a valve that has given up, or the line under the yard from the meter to the house. Small ones under a sink or tub are usually fixed on the first visit, once you’ve seen the price. Hidden ones take narrowing down first.
Start at the meter before you call anyone
Turn off every faucet, the ice maker, the washer and the sprinkler controller. Note the meter reading at the curb, use no water for two hours, and read it again. EPA WaterSense puts it simply: if the meter changed at all, you probably have a leak. Then close the main shut-off where the line enters the house and watch the meter once more. Still moving? The leak is between the meter and the house. Stopped? It’s inside.
Water bubbling up at the meter box or in the street is the City’s side: call 311 first (our plumbing page covers who to call for what).
A water bill that jumped
77429, March 2026: a Cypress homeowner called about a bill showing close to 23,000 gallons in a month, with nothing wet anywhere in the house. That visit started where every leak call should: at the meter, with everything off.
EPA WaterSense gives a yardstick: a family of four using more than 12,000 gallons in a winter month may have a serious leak, and one faucet dripping once a second wastes more than 3,000 gallons a year. The City of Houston’s own trigger for an unusually large bill review is usage above 200% of your average.
A jump that size usually traces to a toilet that runs without a sound, the line between the meter and the house, or a sprinkler zone that stays open. If it’s the sprinkler system, you hear that on the visit, along with the next step.
Under sinks, at hose bibs and after a freeze
Not every leak hides. A supply line or shut-off under a sink, a hose bib that drips after it’s closed, or a line that split in a hard freeze is usually found on sight and fixed on the first visit, once you’ve seen the price. Two signs that are easy to miss: pressure that has dropped at every tap at once, and a musty smell in a room with no visible water. Both are worth a call.
Leak detection inside walls and ceilings
77064, September 2026: a homeowner in our own ZIP had a leak that turned out to be a nail driven through a copper line. We repaired it with press fittings, which join copper without a torch. One of our reviewers below lived with a leak for eight months while visit after visit from others failed to find it. The hard part is rarely the repair; it’s finding the spot.
A leak inside a wall or ceiling almost always needs an access opening. We make it as small as the repair allows, where the water points, and you see the pipe before and after. The service call and diagnostic are free for homes. If locating a hidden leak needs specialized equipment or extra time, you get the price in writing before that work starts.
Water line repair and replacement: the line from the meter to the house
77377, December 2025: a Tomball home’s main water line had failed between the meter and the house. We dug about 50 feet of trench by hand from the meter box to the house and laid a new line. 77429, February 2026: at a Cypress home we found a long-running leak on a 26-year-old PVC cold-water line.
Why these lines fail here: the clay under much of Houston shrinks as it dries, opening cracks half an inch to two inches wide and a foot or more deep that stay open 60 to 90 days in most years. The USDA calls it the Lake Charles series.
The pipe moves with the yard until a joint or a brittle section gives. Age matters too: about 40% of Houston’s housing was built between 1940 and 1979. The material for a new line, and how we open the trench, depend on the house and the yard; we go over both with you before you sign.
Water pressure, pressure-reducing valves and shut-offs
The residential code Texas uses caps static water pressure in a house at 80 psi and calls for a pressure-reducing valve (listed to ASSE 1003) where the supply comes in higher. The state requires public water systems to hold at least 35 psi throughout their distribution systems.
When one fails, pressure surges then sags, pipes bang when the washer shuts off (the same code calls for a water-hammer arrestor where quick-closing valves are used), or the water heater relief valve starts dripping. Houston’s hard water, 135.5 mg/L in the City’s 2025 report, is why old valves seize: a main shut-off that won’t turn, a hose bib that only closes halfway. We replace pressure-reducing valves, main shut-offs and hose bibs. Ask your technician to check the static pressure while they’re there.
Getting money back from the City of Houston
If your water comes from the City of Houston, read this before you pay the bill. Under City Code Sec. 47-74, for water lost through a defect in your own water line, the City credits 100% of the water charge above your average use if the repair is made within 30 days, 75% within 60 days, and 50% after that, for up to three consecutive months.
You have six months from the repair date to file, and a plumber’s bill showing the repair date, address, type of repair and cost is accepted proof. So fix it fast, and keep our invoice. On a MUD or another city’s water, the rules differ by district; ask your provider.
Sources: EPA WaterSense, Fix a Leak Week · City of Houston, water bill adjustment requests (Code Secs. 47-74 and 47-75) · 2021 International Residential Code as adopted in Texas, Chapter 29 · TCEQ, 30 TAC §290.44 · USDA NRCS, Lake Charles soil series · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS year structure built (Houston) · City of Houston 2025 water quality report. Checked November 2026.
