A water bill that jumps with no change in habits is almost never the water company's math. Something is flowing that shouldn't be — and finding it is a process of elimination you can start yourself, in this order.
1. The meter test — fifteen quiet minutes. Turn off every fixture and appliance that uses water (don't forget the ice maker). Find your meter — usually in a ground box near the street — and look at the small low-flow indicator (often a little triangle or star-shaped dial). If everything in the house is off and that indicator is still creeping, water is leaving the system somewhere. Note the reading, wait fifteen minutes without using anything, and check again. Movement = leak, confirmed.
2. The toilet dye test — because it's the #1 culprit. A worn flapper lets water seep silently from tank to bowl around the clock; you'll never hear it. Put a few drops of food coloring in each toilet TANK, wait fifteen minutes without flushing, and look in the BOWL. Color in the bowl means that flapper is your bill. It's a cheap part and an easy fix.
3. Walk the usual suspects. Feel inside the cabinets under every sink. Look at the water heater's base and its relief-valve drain line. Check washing machine hoses. Outside: hose bibs (a January freeze split often shows up at the first spring hose-up) and irrigation lines if you have them.
4. The slab clues. A warm patch on a floor that's otherwise cool is the classic sign of a hot-water line leaking under the slab. So is the faint sound of running water when the house is silent, or a bill jump paired with no visible water anywhere. Slab leaks don't heal — but they also don't require tearing up a whole floor to find. We locate the failure point first, precisely, and open only what the repair needs.
When to stop hunting and call: if the meter says leak but steps 2 and 3 come up clean, the remaining suspects — under-slab lines, service line from the meter, hidden wall runs — are the ones worth professional ears and instruments. That's a find-it-first visit, priced upfront like everything we do: (901) 699-7763.
