Dealing With Plumbing Under Concrete Slab Foundations: How It's Done

When you have a basement, and you need plumbing contractor services to fix most of your plumbing, it is a snap for the contractor to get into the basement and start work. What if you do not have a basement? What if your foundation is nothing more than a concrete slab? Well, that is quite a bit trickier. Here is how a plumbing contractor will have to handle this situation.

Excavate Below the Slab

When the plumbing issues are all below the concrete slab, your contractor needs to get under the slab to get to work. That means that you have to hire a construction contractor or foundation contractor to excavate all of the soil away from the foundation and clear the way to the plumbing in the ground. It is a mess, but once the plumbing contractor can access the plumbing, the real work begins. In the meantime, the other contractor has to brace the slab foundation or allow it to fall and crumble so that the whole area can be rebuilt. Usually, homeowners with your type of foundation opt to have the slab braced from underneath instead of rebuilding the slab foundation. 

​Remove the Floor from the Bathroom and/or Kitchen

If necessary, your plumbing contractor may also need to remove some of the slab flooring in the kitchen and/or bathroom of your home (depending on where the majority of the plumbing work will need to be done). The cut slab over the top of the buried plumbing needs to be removed to gain access to the plumbing that is closest to the bottom of the slab. With a clear view straight through the opened floor to the ground and excavated plumbing below, your plumber can see which pipes need to be replaced. After he/she closes off the main water supply line, the pipes are removed.

​Removing Old and Damaged Pipes

Because of the nature of your foundation, you may want to consider replacing all of the plumbing in your home. Doing so prevents a repeat repair and replacement job in the future on any plumbing you left undone. The plumber will remove and replace all damaged and out-of-date plumbing with modern plumbing. Then he/she turns the water on again to check for leaks. There should be absolutely no leaks. When that is confirmed, the foundation or construction contractor return to push the dirt back under the slab foundation. Then the slab(s) cut from the floor(s) are also replaced and everything is restored to its original appearance.