Leak Detection in Derwood, MD

About Derwood homes

Derwood is an unincorporated community between Rockville and Gaithersburg, close to the Shady Grove Metro and the Intercounty Connector. Its median home dates to 1985, and most went up in a single decade, so neighbors' houses tend to age, and fail, in similar ways. WSSC Water provides water and sewer.

Homes from that decade usually have copper supply piping, plastic drain lines and a water heater in the basement or a utility closet. The pipe itself often holds up well; the weak points are compression fittings under sinks, original shutoff valves, washing machine hoses and the connectors on the water heater. Basement finishes added later can hide all of them, which is why testing comes before any cutting.

First steps

1. Turn off taps, the dishwasher, washer and irrigation controller.
2. Read the meter, wait 30 minutes without using water, and read it again.
3. If it changed, close the main valve. A meter that keeps going means the buried line is suspect.
4. Add food coloring to toilet tanks and check the bowls after 15 minutes.
5. Look at the water heater, under sinks and along basement walls for dampness or white mineral crust.
6. Call WSSC Water at 301-206-4002 if water is coming up near the meter or in the street.

What the symptoms usually mean

What affects the cost

• Number of branches and fixtures tested
• Whether the source is in a finished space, a slab or the yard
• Tools such as thermal cameras or listening equipment
• How big the repair is once the leak is found
• WSSC Water permit requirements for the repair

Outdoors, WSSC owns the service line from the main to the property line, and the homeowner owns the rest into the house. Irrigation systems add one more check: WSSC requires an annual test of the backflow assembly by a certified cross-connection technician, and the piping past that device is the owner's to maintain.