Commercial Leak Detection

Find Hidden Leaks Without Disrupting Operations

A hidden leak in a commercial building wastes water, drives up your utility bill, and damages structure long before anyone notices. Slab leaks under concrete floors, supply line failures inside walls, and drain leaks above suspended ceilings can run for months or years before producing visible damage. By the time the damage shows, the restoration scope is often far larger than the original leak repair would have been.

Doro Plumbing provides commercial leak detection across southeast Wisconsin using acoustic, electronic, and thermal detection methods that locate the leak source without invasive demolition.

Where We Find Leaks

Slab leaks in supply or drain lines running under concrete floors. Common in older commercial buildings, single-story retail, and ground-floor multi-family units.

Supply line leaks behind walls, above suspended ceilings, or inside chases. Especially common in buildings with original copper or galvanized supply piping.

Drain and waste leaks in cast iron, PVC, or copper drain systems. Often hidden until water damage appears in the unit below.

Roof drain leaks where roof drains penetrate the building envelope. Particularly important on flat-roof commercial buildings.

Water heater and boiler leaks that aren’t immediately obvious from the outside but show up in the water bill.

Irrigation leaks in commercial landscaping and grounds systems.

How We Locate Leaks

Detection technology has come a long way. We use:

• Acoustic listening equipment – amplifies the sound of pressurized water escaping a pipe, allowing precise location through floors and walls
• Electronic moisture detection – identifies wet areas behind finished surfaces
• Thermal imaging – locates hot water leaks and abnormal temperature gradients indicating moisture
• Tracer gas – for difficult-to-locate leaks, we can introduce inert tracer gas and detect where it surfaces
• Camera inspection – for drain line leaks, we use specialty cameras to inspect the line interior
• Pressure testing – isolating circuits to identify which line is leaking

The right tool depends on the symptom. We typically start with the cheapest method that fits the situation and escalate only if needed.

Why Detection First Matters

The biggest cost driver in leak repair isn’t the leak itself, it’s the access. Tearing into the wrong wall or the wrong section of slab is expensive. Doing it twice is much worse. Spending an hour with proper detection equipment up front routinely saves thousands of dollars in unnecessary demolition.

Once we’ve located the leak, we provide:

• Precise location marked on the wall, floor, or ceiling
• Written report with our methodology and findings
• Repair estimate for the actual fix
• Restoration recommendation for any drywall, flooring, or finish work needed after repair

Insurance Documentation

For leaks that may be covered by insurance (sudden and accidental water damage events), we provide documentation suitable for a claim: photos, written findings, leak location, and our repair estimate. Many commercial policies cover both the repair and the resulting damage, but only with proper documentation.

After-Hours Detection

For active commercial properties, we schedule detection work outside operating hours when possible. We can typically locate a leak in 1-3 hours of on-site work depending on complexity.

Doro Plumbing · (262) 229-5632 · Hartford, WI