My $15 water bill leak cost me $400 before I caught it

Last March I noticed my water bill jumped from around $45 to $120 for no reason. I figured maybe I was taking longer showers or something dumb like that. Turned out I had a tiny leak under my kitchen sink that was slowly dripping into the cabinet for weeks. By the time I found it, the particle board floor of the cabinet was completely swollen and had to be replaced. Between the extra water bills and the cabinet repair, I shelled out nearly $400 total. I feel like an idiot for not checking the meter sooner with a simple 15 minute test. Has anyone else had a hidden leak blow up their budget like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

carter.thea22d ago

Read a consumer report thing that said most leak claims are under $500, so at least you're not alone there.

laura_white9922d ago

Yeah you're right about the report but I think the number is actually around $600 average now, not under $500. That report might be a few years old so the numbers probably went up with inflation and all that. But still your point stands that most leaks aren't those nightmare $10,000 disasters people freak out about. It's good to keep that in mind because I think a lot of people put off fixing small leaks because they're scared of the cost.

williamt4422d ago

Started sweating the first time I saw that report actually (kind of felt like I dodged a bullet). My neighbor had a tiny leak from a loose pipe under his sink and his plumber charged him $350 just to tighten it, so those numbers ring pretty true to me. I had a slow drip in my bathroom wall a few years ago and the damage wasn't even visible until the floor started feeling weird. Ended up costing around $400 to fix the pipe and patch the drywall, which is annoying but way less than what you hear about on the news with those big horror stories. It's like most of the time leaks are just these small, dumb surprises that you can handle without selling a kidney.