Guides
Guides to leaks, and to everyone who bills you for one
Written from the engineer's side rather than the insurer's: how a leak is actually found, what each method cannot do, what the work costs, and who is responsible for paying for it.
Detection, cost and what to do first
Plumber Call-Out Fees in London, and What They Cover
What a London call-out fee buys, how it stacks on top of an hourly rate, and the four questions that stop a quoted fee turning into a bill you did not expect.
Leak Detection Cost in London: What You Actually Pay
Published UK detection costs run from £80 to £1,600, and the reason for that spread is time. What drives the hours, who else might pay, and what we charge.
What an Emergency Plumber Costs, and When You Need One
The emergency premium is a call-out fee plus an uplifted hourly rate plus a minimum charge. What the published UK figures are, and the jobs that are not emergencies.
What No Find, No Fee Actually Means, and What It Does Not
It covers the hours spent searching if the leak is not located. It is not a free visit, not a cap on the bill, and not the same thing at every firm. The honest version.
Why Leak Detection Is Charged by the Hour, Not by the Job
A fixed hourly rate stops you being re-priced for a difficult property or an evening visit. It is not a fixed total, and this explains exactly what moves the bill. What the difference means for your bill, and how to keep the hours down.
What the Sponsored Result Costs You
A click on an emergency plumbing ad in London costs the advertiser up to £103. Here is the arithmetic that turns that into a cost carried by every job they win.
How to Tell a Sponsored Result From an Organic One
Where the Ad label sits, what the map pack actually is, and how to tell the firm that will turn up from the marketplace that will sell your details on.
Lead Generation Sites vs Calling the Firm Direct
How directories, marketplaces and dispatch brands are paid, what a lead fee is, and what each model does to the quote you are given for a leak.
Questions to Ask Before You Book a Leak Specialist
Eleven questions that separate a detection-only visit from a finished repair, with the answers to listen for and the ones that should make you keep ringing.
What to Do if a Pipe Bursts: The First Ten Minutes
Electrics first, stop tap second, taps open third. The order that limits the damage when a pipe bursts, and the point where it stops being a plumbing job.
How to Stop a Leaking Pipe Temporarily
A repair clamp or self-fusing tape buys hours, not weeks. How to hold a leaking pipe until it is fixed properly, and the pipes you must never patch.
Water Coming Through the Ceiling: The First Ten Minutes
Electrics before water, and a bulging ceiling drained deliberately into a bucket rather than left to fall. What the first ten minutes should actually look like.
Frozen Pipes: How to Thaw One Safely
Stop tap off, taps open, then slow heat from the tap end. How to thaw a frozen pipe without splitting it, and why the burst usually shows up on the thaw.
How to Drain Down Your System
Boiler off and cold, water isolated, hose on the lowest drain cock. Draining a heating system properly, and the inhibitor step that decides the next leak.
Is a Leaking Overflow Pipe Dangerous?
An overflow or discharge pipe dripping outside is a safety device doing its job. Which pipe it is tells you whether it can wait or needs an engineer today.
Tracer Gas Leak Detection, Explained
How a hydrogen and nitrogen mix finds a leak under screed, concrete or plastic pipe without opening the floor, and the three jobs it cannot do.
Acoustic Leak Detection, Explained
How engineers listen a leak out of a pipe, why it works so well on copper under pressure, and the two situations where it hears nothing at all.
Thermal Imaging Leak Detection, Explained
A thermal camera reads surface temperature, not water. What that means for finding a leak under your floor, and the cold leak it will never show you.
Moisture Mapping and Damp Meters, Explained
What a damp meter reading actually measures, why the number on the screen is not a percentage of water, and how a moisture map points at a leak.
How Do Plumbers Find Leaks?
The order a real leak detection visit runs in, what each of the five methods is good at, what defeats it, and the checks worth doing before you book anyone.
How to Find a Water Leak in a Wall
Work out whether it is a leak at all, narrow it to one pipe with isolation tests, then find the exact spot without taking the wall apart guessing.
How to Find a Leak Under a Concrete Floor
Why acoustic and thermal often fail on a solid floor, why tracer gas is the method that works, and how the floor gets opened once rather than searched.
Radiator Valve Types, and Which Ones Weep
Name the head, body, lockshield, tail, gland and olive properly, then learn which of them actually leak, why, and what a white or green crust is telling you.
Why towel rails leak more often than radiators
Thin-wall tube, dozens of welded joints, chrome that hides corrosion and a room where everything is already wet. The structural reasons towel rails fail first.
Underfloor heating manifold leaks, and where to look first
The manifold is the one part of an underfloor system you can see, and a large share of leaks are there. How to inspect it before anyone lifts a floor.
How underfloor heating pipe fails in screed
Buried underfloor heating pipe rarely fails on its own. The four ways it gets damaged, where that damage sits, and how one patch of floor gets opened.
Pressure testing underfloor heating before the screed goes down
How to test underfloor heating loops before and during the screed pour, why the gauge moves without a leak, and what to photograph before the floor closes.
Leaks after a radiator is taken off to decorate
Why a radiator that came off for painting starts weeping days later, what the lockshield turns had to do with it, and how to refit one without creating a job.
Water damage repair in London, in the order it has to happen
Prove the leak is dead, dry the structure, then make good. Do those three in the wrong order and you pay for the same plastering, screed or ceiling twice.
Emergency pipe repair in London: what happens on the night
What an emergency pipe repair actually delivers after dark: the first ten minutes, clamps and pipe freezing, and the part that waits for daylight.
Where is my stopcock, and how do I turn the water off?
The places a UK stopcock actually hides, which way it turns, why you open a cold tap straight afterwards, and what to do when the valve will not move.
Sewage smell that comes and goes: how to track the cause
Track an intermittent sewage smell using its timing, location and connection to flushing, weather or unused fittings, then arrange the right investigation.
Sewage smell after heavy rain: outside sewer or an indoor fault?
Work out what to report when a sewage smell follows rain: outdoor incidents, affected neighbours, indoor entry points and the right drainage investigation.
Sewage smell when the toilet flushes: which connection needs checking?
Use the location and timing of a flush-triggered sewage smell to distinguish WC connections, nearby waste traps and wider drainage symptoms before booking.
Shower drain smells despite cleaning: what to check next
A clean shower can still smell if its trap insert, seal or connected drainage needs attention. Identify the pattern before buying cleaners or opening the tray.
Washing-machine drain smells of sewage: appliance or pipework?
Separate odour inside a washing machine from a standpipe, sink-trap or drainage problem. Use cycle timing and connection details to book the right investigation.
Kitchen sink smells but drains normally: what to check next
Find the next useful check for a smelly kitchen sink that still empties: strainer, overflow, trap, appliance branches and signs of a wider drainage problem.
Sewage smell after a new bathroom: checks for the return visit
New bathroom smelling of sewage? Record what changed, identify the trap and waste fittings, and arrange targeted installation checks before opening finished surfaces.
Soil pipe smell inside boxing: finding the fault before opening up
Sewage smell near a boxed-in soil pipe? Plan a targeted inspection of concealed joints, branch connections and valves, with clear access and reinstatement arrangements.
No Water Coming Out of the Tap? What to Check First
Whether it is the street, your stop valve, a frozen pipe, an empty loft tank or a burst on the pipe you own, and the order to check them in before you call anyone.
How Much Does It Cost to Fix a Leak?
A leak repair bill has three parts: finding it, fixing the pipe and putting the wall or floor back. What each part costs, and which one decides the total.
Cracked Pipe? What to Do Now and How It Gets Fixed
A hairline crack in a copper, plastic or waste pipe: how to stop the water, whether a clamp will hold it overnight, and why the cracked length has to come out rather than be patched.
How to Drain a Radiator Without Draining the System
Shut both valves, crack the tail nut into a tray, open the bleed screw. How to drain one radiator safely, and what to do when a valve will not close.
How to Change a Tap Washer and Stop the Drip
Isolate the tap, lift off the handle, undo the headgear and swap the washer. The step-by-step for pillar, mixer and bath taps, and why some still drip.
Lockshield Valve: What It Does and How to Adjust It
The lockshield sets how much hot water a radiator gets. How to open, close and adjust one, why it leaks, and when it needs replacing, not tightening.
How to Change a Tap Cartridge on a Lever or Mixer Tap
Isolate the tap, take off the handle, unscrew the old cartridge and fit an identical one. How to match the part, which way it turns, and why taps still drip.
Shower Head Dripping? Why It Won't Stop and the Fix
A shower head that drips for a minute is draining. One that drips all night has a valve that is not shutting off. How to tell which, and what the repair is.
The four subjects with a hub of their own
Boiler & Heating Pressure
A sealed system that will not hold pressure is losing water somewhere. What each fault code means, and how to find where it is going.
Thames Water
The letter, the four-week window, the allowance, and exactly where Thames Water’s pipe stops being their problem and starts being your repair bill.
Water Bills & Meters
Reading the meter to prove a leak, what an unexplained jump actually costs you per day, and the evidence a water company wants before it grants an allowance.
Insurance Claims & Trace and Access
Written from the engineer’s side: what the loss adjuster asks for, what a trace report must contain, and what gets a claim declined.
Field Notes
What we actually find on London leaks, what the law and the insurers changed this year, and the jobs worth writing up.
Hot Water, Cylinders & Tanks
Cylinders, storage tanks and the discharge pipes that give them away. Written from the leak end: what is losing water, where it is going, and what it costs to put right.
If you have read enough and need the repair
- Emergency Leak Repair
- Water Leak Repair
- Burst Pipe Repair
- Ceiling Leak Repair
- Boiler & Heating Leak Repair
- Radiator & Valve Leak Repair
- Underfloor Heating Leak Repair
- Mains & Supply Pipe Repair
- Bathroom & Shower Leak Repair
- Gas Tracer Leak Detection
- Pipework Repair & Replacement
- Leak Damage Repair & Reinstatement
- Trace, Access & Reinstatement
- Commercial Leak Repair
No find, no fee · £150 per hour. The rate is fixed before we attend and does not rise for a difficult property, an awkward access or an evening visit. The total depends on how long the job takes; the rate cannot change.