How to find a potentially leaky waste pipe

[Ray K]

The edges of some of my paver bricks are always damp, even though a ceiling over them prevent rain from ever hitting them. The water meter doesn't budge when all the faucets are off, so I suspect a leak in the main waste pipe.

The house is on a slab, and located in central New Jersey, so the pipe might be a couple of feet below the soil (and below the frost line).

Another winter problem is that the nearby blacktop driveway will raise about two inches above the concrete garage floor following a couple of weeks of below freezing temperatures. There had been a gap between the blacktop and the garage that I just filled, so I don't yet know if that's how the water was getting below the blacktop. Again, it may have been leaks from the waste pipe.

Any tips for finding it?

Thanks,

Ray

[Speedy Jim]

Jim

[willshak]

on 10/6/2007 3:11 PM Ray K said the following:

My guess would be the same as I have. There is a shallow aquifer right under your driveway and pavers. On the driest of days there can be wet spots in the middle of my driveway. I am 400' above sea level and on top of a hill. No one around me is higher. I know there are no pipes under the driveway as I have a well on the side lawn that goes directly to the house. After I first built this house, I noticed the water near the end of my driveway and thought it was from the neighbors above ground pool, but it wasn't. The highway department has occasionally repaved a few feet of the road section at the end of my driveway because it constantly crumbles away while the rest of the road doesn't. My asphalt driveway heaves about 1" above the concrete garage apron in the winter. There are depressions in the asphalt where the cars sit. When they paved the driveway, I watched the roller move over the asphalt like it was on a thick rubber sheet.

[Ray K]

Thanks, Jim and Bill. Being a city boy always on public sewage systems, I didn't know about such dye test powders.

I'll have to investigate the aquifer possibility. I too am above most of my neighbors, but based on Bill's experience, that could be my problem too.

Ray

[willshak]

When my house was built, they went down 325' for my well. If I'd known about that shallow aquifer, I would have built an old type wishing well with a bucket. My wife always wanted a wishing well to cover the well head. Maybe I'll dig a real one on the other side of the driveway. :-)

[EXT]

My parent's house built in 1967 had a wet spot when the foundation hole was dug, this was 6 feet deep. The sump was installed close to that damp area and developed a constant flow of water no matter how dry the summer. They had a 40 foot deep bored well (3 feet in diameter, common in this area) which started running out of water about 10 years after the house was built, but the spring in the sump always flowed with fresh cold water.

You never know where there is water and what it will do.