diff --git a/framework/include/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.h b/framework/include/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.h
index 17494fe0278e..830f46c36c7f 100644
--- a/framework/include/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.h
+++ b/framework/include/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.h
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ void checkNonConformalMesh(const std::unique_ptr<libMesh::MeshBase> & mesh,
                            const Real conformality_tol,
                            unsigned int & num_nonconformal_nodes);
 
-bool checkFirstOrderEdgeOverlap(const std::unique_ptr<const Elem> & edge1,
-                                const std::unique_ptr<const Elem> & edge2,
+bool checkFirstOrderEdgeOverlap(const Elem & edge1,
+                                const Elem & edge2,
                                 Point & intersection_point,
                                 const Real intersection_tol);
 }
diff --git a/framework/src/meshgenerators/MeshDiagnosticsGenerator.C b/framework/src/meshgenerators/MeshDiagnosticsGenerator.C
index a8196f8eed52..3d626c150fe5 100644
--- a/framework/src/meshgenerators/MeshDiagnosticsGenerator.C
+++ b/framework/src/meshgenerators/MeshDiagnosticsGenerator.C
@@ -1431,8 +1431,7 @@ MeshDiagnosticsGenerator::checkNonMatchingEdges(const std::unique_ptr<MeshBase>
     bounding_box_map.insert({elem, boundingBox});
   }
 
-  std::unique_ptr<PointLocatorBase> point_locator =
-      mesh->sub_point_locator(); // PointLocatorBase::build(TREE_ELEMENTS, *mesh);
+  std::unique_ptr<PointLocatorBase> point_locator = mesh->sub_point_locator();
   std::set<std::array<dof_id_type, 4>> overlapping_edges_nodes;
   for (const auto elem : mesh->active_element_ptr_range())
   {
@@ -1494,7 +1493,7 @@ MeshDiagnosticsGenerator::checkNonMatchingEdges(const std::unique_ptr<MeshBase>
           // Now compare edge with other_edge
           Point intersection_coords;
           bool overlap = MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils::checkFirstOrderEdgeOverlap(
-              edge, other_edge, intersection_coords, _non_matching_edge_tol);
+              *edge, *other_edge, intersection_coords, _non_matching_edge_tol);
           if (overlap)
           {
             // Add the nodes that make up the 2 edges to the vector overlapping_edges_nodes
diff --git a/framework/src/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.C b/framework/src/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.C
index 3960797cdac3..9c7fff5d5cdf 100644
--- a/framework/src/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.C
+++ b/framework/src/utils/MeshBaseDiagnosticsUtils.C
@@ -69,19 +69,19 @@ checkNonConformalMesh(const std::unique_ptr<MeshBase> & mesh,
 }
 
 bool
-checkFirstOrderEdgeOverlap(const std::unique_ptr<const Elem> & edge1,
-                           const std::unique_ptr<const Elem> & edge2,
+checkFirstOrderEdgeOverlap(const Elem & edge1,
+                           const Elem & edge2,
                            Point & intersection_point,
                            const Real intersection_tol)
 {
   // check that the two elements are of type EDGE2
-  mooseAssert(edge1->type() == EDGE2, "Elements must be of type EDGE2");
-  mooseAssert(edge2->type() == EDGE2, "Elements must be of type EDGE2");
+  mooseAssert(edge1.type() == EDGE2, "Elements must be of type EDGE2");
+  mooseAssert(edge2.type() == EDGE2, "Elements must be of type EDGE2");
   // Get nodes from the two edges
-  const Point & p1 = edge1->point(0);
-  const Point & p2 = edge1->point(1);
-  const Point & p3 = edge2->point(0);
-  const Point & p4 = edge2->point(1);
+  const Point & p1 = edge1.point(0);
+  const Point & p2 = edge1.point(1);
+  const Point & p3 = edge2.point(0);
+  const Point & p4 = edge2.point(1);
 
   // Check that the two edges are not sharing a node
   if (p1 == p3 || p1 == p4 || p2 == p3 || p2 == p4)