Torrance & the South Bay

Slab Leaks, Repipes and Plumbing Repairs in Torrance

Warm spot on the floor, a water bill that jumped, the sound of water with every tap off? Call, describe it, and a local plumbing company that knows Torrance tract houses takes it from there.

Most of Torrance was built fast. The city put up more houses after 1949 than any other in Los Angeles County except Los Angeles and Long Beach, in tracts of a few hundred at a time, a lot of them on concrete slabs with the water lines underneath. Those pipes are now sixty and seventy years old, and that is what most plumbing calls here are really about.

Call (424) 855-0716 Describe the problem

Phone answered Mon–Fri 7am–7pm, Sat 8am–5pm

No charge to you · One local plumbing company, not a list · Torrance and the South Bay

A chrome gooseneck faucet over a stainless steel double kitchen sink

Find it before you digA pressure test and acoustic location come before anyone breaks a slab.

Straps are the lawEvery residential tank heater in California must be braced against earthquakes.

The lateral is yoursTorrance owners maintain the sewer pipe from the house all the way to the main.

What plumbing work costs in Torrance

A slab leak found and repaired at one spot is usually quoted in the low thousands; rerouting the line overhead runs higher; a whole-house repipe on a typical three-bedroom single-storey is generally a five-figure job. A standard tank water heater, installed with straps and a permit, tends to land between about $2,000 and $4,000.

See the ranges and what moves them.

Get a number for your house Call (424) 855-0716

Under the slab

A Torrance tract house from the 1950s or 60s usually sits on a concrete slab poured over the water lines. When one of those lines pinholes, the water has nowhere to show. It soaks into the soil under the floor, sometimes for months, and the first sign is a warm tile in the hallway, a damp edge on a carpet, or a bill from Torrance Municipal Water that makes no sense.

Finding the leak is a separate job from fixing it. A good leak-detection visit isolates the hot and cold sides with a pressure test, then pins the spot with acoustic listening gear and often a thermal camera. Only then does anyone talk about breaking concrete, rerouting the line through the attic, or repiping the house.

If the floor is warm right now

Close the cold-water valve on top of the water heater. That stops hot water moving through the leaking line, and it buys you time to call without heating the soil under your house all night.

A warm floor or a meter that will not stop moving is worth a call today. Describe what you see and a local plumbing company will take it from there.

Call (424) 855-0716 Send the details instead

Seventy-year-old pipe, two kinds

Houses built in the late 1940s and early 50s were often plumbed in galvanised steel, which rusts from the inside until the bore narrows and the water runs brown. By the late 50s and 60s, copper was the norm, and copper under a slab tends to fail in a different way: pinholes, often on the hot side, where the pipe rubbed on concrete or gravel. A house can have both, because many galvanised systems were patched with copper over the decades. Knowing which one you have changes whether you are paying for a spot repair or a repipe.

The rules that apply here

Water heater straps

California law requires every new, replacement and existing residential tank water heater to be braced, anchored or strapped against earthquake movement, and a seller has to certify it. Two straps, one in the upper third of the tank and one in the lower third, is the usual reading of the plumbing code.

Permits

Torrance treats sewer lateral repairs as a plumbing permit on private property, plus a separate excavation permit for anything in the street. Water heater replacements and repipes also generally need a permit; check with the city's Building and Safety counter before work starts, and ask the company quoting you whether theirs includes it.

Earthquake shutoffs

An automatic gas shutoff valve is only required where a local ordinance says so. Whether you want one anyway is a fair question in a city that sits between the Palos Verdes and Newport-Inglewood faults.

When the calls come in

Searches for a plumber in Torrance peak in January, at close to three times the May level, and run high through December and February. Cold mornings are when an ageing water heater finally gives up, and the winter rains are when a root-choked sewer lateral backs up into a shower. The quieter months, late spring and August, are the better time to deal with the repipe or the heater replacement you already know is coming.

What you can call about

Where we work in Torrance

Old TorranceDowntown, 90501the 1912 Olmsted-planned core, where the plan ran utilities down the alleys, so the sewer and water connections on many lots are at the back of the property rather than the street
West TorranceWest side, 90503much of it went up in the 1950s and 60s as tracts of a few hundred near-identical houses, so one house on the street with a slab leak is a fair warning for the others
SouthwoodSouthwest, 90503Wilson Development country; the Southwood Riviera Royale tract opened in 1962, which puts much of the original pipe under these slabs past sixty years old
Hollywood RivieraSouthwest, 90505the oldest houses date from the late 1920s and early 1930s, with 1950s infill between them, so two neighbours can have plumbing thirty years apart
WalteriaSouth, 90505south Torrance near the airport and the Palos Verdes hills, a mix of postwar houses and later rebuilds where the original piping may or may not have survived
North TorranceNorth side, 90504a big share of the city’s postwar housing; Torrance Municipal Water serves about 78 percent of the city and Cal Water the rest, so check whose name is on the bill before comparing rates with a neighbour

ZIP codes served90501 · 90502 · 90503 · 90504 · 90505

Beyond Torrance

We also cover Redondo Beach, Lomita, Gardena and Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Guides

Common questions

What does it cost to use this site?

Nothing. There is no charge for the introduction and no obligation to go ahead. If you hire the plumbing company, you pay them directly at whatever price you agree with them.

How do I know if I have a slab leak?

The usual signs are a warm patch on a floor (a hot-water line under the slab), the sound of running water when nothing is on, a water meter that keeps moving with every fixture off, and a bill that jumps without a change in how you use water. The slab leak guide walks through a meter test you can run yourself in fifteen minutes.

Is a slab leak an emergency?

A hot-water slab leak can be: it runs continuously, it heats the floor, and it keeps your water heater firing. Shut the cold supply into the water heater, which stops hot water flowing to the leak, and call. A small cold-line leak with no visible water is urgent rather than an emergency, but every day costs water and undermines the soil under the slab.

Does my house need repiping?

Not automatically. A first slab leak in a 1960s copper system is often fixed at the spot. Second and third leaks, rusty water from a galvanised system, or pressure that has fallen over the years are the signs that the whole system is near the end. The repair-reroute-repipe guide sets out how to decide.

Do you cover my area?

All five Torrance ZIP codes, 90501 to 90505, plus Redondo Beach, Lomita, Gardena and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Near the edge of that? Call and give the ZIP.

Will someone come out tonight?

That is up to the plumbing company and depends on the hour and their schedule; this site does not promise a response time. What you can do in the meantime is stop the water. The emergency page covers the first ten minutes.

Are you the plumbers?

No. This site is an advertising and referral service operated by Pinecrest Advisory Services, LLC. Your call or request goes to one independent local plumbing company, which quotes and does the work. We hold no licence and do no plumbing; the company should hold a C-36 plumbing licence from the Contractors State License Board, which you can check at cslb.ca.gov.

Ask about plumbing repair

Say what you are seeing and where, and a local plumbing company will get in touch once they have your details. Phone answered Mon–Fri 7am–7pm, Sat 8am–5pm Or call (424) 855-0716 if water is running right now, after you have shut it off.