Case
Studies

The homeowners of this Craftsman bungalow had been snaking the same main line every few months for two years. A camera inspection showed the truth: the original 1926 clay lateral had three offset joints and a fully collapsed section under a mature ficus, 40 feet from the house. A traditional dig would have meant tearing out a brick walkway, a retaining wall, and a protected tree's root zone — a five-figure landscaping bill on top of the plumbing.

We located the break precisely with our camera and locator, then pipe-burst the failed clay and pulled a seamless HDPE liner through the existing path — two small access pits instead of a 40-foot trench. The protected ficus, the brick walkway, and the retaining wall were never touched. Permit pulled and city inspection passed same-week.

Full flow restored in a day and a half, backed by a 50-year liner warranty. The homeowners spent roughly a third of what a dig-and-replace plus hardscape restoration would have cost — and the bathroom hasn't backed up since.

The owners thought the kids were leaving faucets on. The real culprit was a pinhole leak in the original copper hot-water line, buried in the slab under the living room — leaking continuously and silently for months, spiking the bill and threatening the foundation slab and flooring.

Acoustic and thermal-imaging equipment pinpointed the leak under the slab without a single exploratory hole in the wrong place. Rather than jackhammer the living-room floor, we abandoned the failed under-slab section and rerouted a new PEX-A hot-water line overhead through the attic — one small, patchable drywall access instead of a demolished floor.

Leak eliminated in a single day. The next billing cycle dropped back to normal, saving the homeowners an estimated $200+ a month, and the new overhead line carries a transferable warranty. No flooring was lost.

The family of five in this 2002 Eastlake home woke up to a flooded garage from a ruptured 50-gallon tank. Even before it failed, the tank couldn't keep up with back-to-back morning showers. They wanted the flood fixed today and the hot-water problem fixed for good — without a code headache.

We hauled the ruptured tank, then installed a high-efficiency gas tankless unit sized for simultaneous demand. The job included a new gas-line section to feed the higher BTU input, a condensate line, isolation valves for easy descaling, and all the venting and permitting to pass San Diego code on the first inspection.

Endless hot water for the whole household, a freed-up corner of the garage, and a lower monthly gas bill from the efficiency gain. Backed by a 12-year labor warranty and a manufacturer parts warranty registered for the owners.