Expert Guides
78 articles covering leak detection methods, heating and underground leaks, insurance claims, damp diagnosis and practical advice from London specialists.
Thermal imaging cameras detect temperature differences caused by hidden water leaks. Here is how the technology works and why it is the fastest way to find leaks without damaging your property.
Everything you need to know about making a trace and access claim on your home insurance. What is covered, what documentation you need, and how to avoid common pitfalls.
From unexplained damp patches to rising water bills, these are the warning signs that you may have a hidden water leak. London-specific advice for different property types.
Acoustic leak detection uses sensitive microphones to listen for the sound of pressurised water escaping from pipes. Here is how it works and when it is the best method.
If you are constantly topping up your boiler pressure, you almost certainly have a heating system leak. Here is how specialists find them and why DIY methods rarely work.
A leaking water main can waste thousands of litres and inflate your bill dramatically. Here is how to spot the signs and what the detection and repair process involves.
Underfloor heating leaks are difficult to find without specialist equipment. This guide explains the detection methods, costs, and what to expect during a survey.
Is your pool losing water? Here is how specialists detect pool leaks using pressure testing, dye testing, and acoustic methods, plus what you can expect to pay.
Not all damp is caused by a leak, and not all leaks cause damp. Here is how to identify whether your moisture problem is condensation, rising damp, or an actual water leak.
A straightforward breakdown of what leak detection surveys actually cost in London, what affects the price, and how to avoid paying over the odds.
Some leaks you can find yourself, but most require specialist equipment. Here is how to know when a London leak detection professional is worth the investment.
Water leaks in commercial premises across London can cause costly downtime and structural damage. Here is what business owners should know about detection and prevention.
Not all leak detection companies in London offer the same level of service. These five factors will help you choose a reliable specialist and avoid cowboy operators.
When a serious leak strikes your London property, fast action matters. Here is exactly what happens when you book an emergency leak detection visit.
The type of pipes in your London home directly affects your leak risk. This guide compares copper, PVC, lead, and push-fit systems and their common failure points.
Rising and penetrating damp require completely different treatments. Learn how to identify each type in London properties and when a professional survey is needed.
From corrosion to water pressure spikes, these are the eight most common reasons pipes leak in London homes and what you can do to prevent them.
Once a leak is found and fixed, the restoration work begins. This guide covers drying, replastering, and insurance claims for water-damaged London properties.
Smart water monitors and automatic shut-off valves can prevent catastrophic leak damage. Here is what is available for London homeowners and whether it is worth the cost.
London landlords have legal obligations when it comes to water leaks and damp. This guide covers your responsibilities, tenant rights, and how to handle leak disputes.
Discover the true cost of ignoring a hidden water leak in your London home. From rising water bills to structural damage, find out how much delay really costs.
Comparing copper, PVC, push-fit, lead, and galvanised steel pipes for leak risk in London homes. Find out which pipe materials fail most and why.
Learn how professional leak detection technology finds underground water leaks in London without excavation. Acoustic, tracer gas, thermal, and correlator methods explained.
Six warning signs of a hidden water leak inside your walls, from damp patches to unexplained bills. Learn what to look for and when to call a leak detection specialist.
A step-by-step guide to what happens during a professional leak detection visit in London, from preparation to the final report and repair referral.
A sealed heating system should hold its pressure for months. If yours keeps dropping, water is leaving the circuit. Here is how to work out where, in the right order.
A copper pipe dripping outside your boiler is the pressure relief valve telling you something. Here is how to read it, what causes it and who should fix it.
Wet underfloor heating that keeps losing pressure can be narrowed down loop by loop before anyone lifts a tile. Here are the checks, in order.
Heating pipes buried in a concrete floor can leak for months before anything shows. Here is how the leak is traced through the slab and what the repair options are.
A leak on the pipe between the boundary and your house can run for months unseen. Here is how to confirm it with the meter and how it is located without trenching.
Correlators, ground microphones, thermal cameras, tracer gas detectors, moisture meters and endoscopes each answer a different question. Here is what each one is for.
Tracer gas finds leaks that make no sound and show no heat. Here is what the gas is, how a test is run step by step, and the situations where it struggles.
What a central heating leak survey costs in London, what changes the figure, what is included, and the costs that come after the leak has been found.
Water dripping or pouring through a ceiling needs a calm, ordered response. Make the electrics safe, deal with a bulging ceiling, stop the water, then work out where it is coming from.
The cost of a hidden water leak repair is four bills, not one: finding it, getting to it, fixing the pipe and making good. Here is what drives each part.
What it costs to fix a burst pipe in the UK, why a hidden burst costs more, what to do in the first ten minutes, and how home insurance usually treats the claim.
Often, yes, through the trace and access section of a buildings policy. Here is when it applies, the conditions that usually come with it, and what insurers ask for.
A practical evidence checklist for an escape of water claim, including bathroom leaks, how to show when a leak started, and what to do if the claim is turned down.
What trace and access means, how the cost breaks down into finding, opening up and making good, where it sits in your policy, and how accurate detection keeps it down.
The signs of a leak under tiles, the checks you can do yourself with the water meter and boiler gauge, and how a leak is pinpointed so only a few tiles need to come up.
A wet patch on a ceiling with no obvious leak usually comes down to condensation, an intermittent waste leak, a shower seal or the roof. Here are the tests that tell them apart.
Isolate the water first, then pick the right stopgap: a repair clamp, self-amalgamating tape, epoxy putty or a push-fit coupling. What each one suits, where each one fails, and when a temporary fix is unsafe.
A ceiling leak under a shower comes from one of four places: the seals and grout, the tray waste, the trap, or the supply pipes and mixer valve. Here is how to tell them apart, and the order to test them in.
An underground leak is billed in four parts: locating it, digging down, repairing or replacing the pipe, and putting the ground back. What drives each part, and typical UK ranges for the work after detection.
A high water bill with no visible leak can usually be narrowed down at home in an evening: a meter test, a stopcock split test, a cistern dye test and a walk round the outside taps and loft.
Central heating leaks show up differently depending on where they are: radiator valves and tails, towel rails, the pump, the boiler connections or joints hidden under the floor. What to look for at each one.
A good leak detection report explains what was tested, how, what the readings showed, where the leak is and why it happened, with photos, a marked plan and honest limitations. Here is what to look for.
Many London houses have a void under the ground floor where a leak can run for months unseen. How to spot one, get into the void safely, read the moisture evidence and trace the pipe run.
A leaking radiator valve is usually one of four things: the gland around the spindle, the olive on the pipe, the tail into the radiator, or the bleed valve. What you can safely tighten, and when draining is needed.
A pressure test tells you whether a section of pipework is losing water. How a drop test is done on cold, hot and heating circuits, how isolating sections narrows the search, and where the test runs out.
A leaking hot water cylinder usually points to one of five places: the tundish, the immersion heater boss, a pipe connection or valve, the cylinder body, or something nearby. How to tell which, and what is safe to do yourself.
A wet room depends on three things working together: the tanking, the drain and the falls. Where wet rooms usually leak, how a flood test and moisture mapping separate the causes, and what the repair tends to involve.
Water behind shower tiles comes either from splash water getting through grout and silicone, or from pipes and the mixer valve in the wall. The signs of each, and how dye and isolation tests tell them apart.
What a commercial water leak job looks like in practice: isolating the supply without closing the building, tracing leaks between units, working out of hours, and the report facilities managers and landlords need afterwards.
How building leak detection systems work in blocks of flats, offices and plant rooms: zone sensors, flow monitoring and automatic shut-off valves, what each can and cannot do, and how they work alongside a leak survey.
Appliance leaks often go under the floor before anyone notices. The connections that usually fail, how to check them, how water behaves under different floor coverings, and how to dry the floor properly.
A leak in the loft usually comes from the cold water tank, its ballvalve and overflow, or pipes split by frost. The signs on the ceiling below, how to tell a leaking tank from an overflowing one, and what to do first.
Water dripping from under a boiler usually comes from the pipework below it, the condensate trap, the pressure relief valve, a pump seal or the heat exchanger. How to tell them apart, what you can safely check, and what needs a Gas Safe registered engineer.
A stopcock usually leaks from the spindle, a washer or the joints either side. How to deal with a weeping gland nut, why old brass stopcocks start leaking after being turned, how to isolate the supply at the boundary, and when the water is really coming from the pipe below.
A pre-purchase leak survey checks the water supply, heating and wet areas of a property you are buying for signs of hidden leaks. What it covers, where it fits in the conveyancing timeline, what the report tells you and your surveyor, and its limits.
New homes leak too, usually at push-fit joints, pipes pierced by fixings, shower and bath seals, and underfloor heating manifolds. Where new build leaks tend to start, how builder warranties generally work, and how to document a leak for the developer.
A leak in a riser can affect several flats at once and is rarely where the water shows. How risers are laid out, how the supply is isolated, how a leak is traced between floors, how access to several flats is organised, and what the freeholder's report needs to say.
A leak under a bath usually comes from the waste and overflow, the trap, the taps and their tails, or the seal along the wall. The signs, how to look behind the bath panel, and the step-by-step flood test that separates each cause.
When an outside tap leaks inside the house, the fault is usually on the pipe through the wall, a frost-damaged joint, the check valve or the isolation valve. How to recognise it, what to close, and how moisture and thermal checks find a leak inside the cavity.
A toilet that keeps running into the pan or out of the overflow pipe usually has a fill valve that will not shut off, a float set too high, or a worn flush valve seal. How to tell which, how to do a dye test, and when the cistern is leaking somewhere else.
When several homes take water from one supply pipe, a leak on it is everyone's problem until someone finds it. How shared supplies are laid out, how isolation and meter tests narrow the leak to one section or one property, and why neighbours and the water company end up involved.
Low water pressure can come from the water company's network, a partly closed stopcock, a problem inside the house or a leak on your own supply pipe. The checks that tell them apart, a simple flow test, and how a survey confirms a leak before anything is dug up.
A drain smell indoors with nothing visibly wet usually comes from a dried-out trap, a failed seal or a cracked waste or soil pipe behind boxing. How to narrow it down, how smoke testing, CCTV and moisture mapping are used, and when the job belongs to a drainage contractor.
Water around the bottom of a toilet can come from the pan connector, the cistern-to-pan joint, the supply connection, condensation, or a leak under the floor that surfaces there. How dry tests and dye tests separate them, and what a stain on the ceiling below tells you.
When an overflow pipe keeps dripping after the toilet and loft tank have been checked, the cause is often a fill valve that passes only at night, a tank nobody knew about, or a pipe that is not an overflow at all. How to trace the pipe back and tell an overflow from a boiler or cylinder discharge.
Mould keeps coming back in the same spot because the moisture feeding it has never been found. How the pattern, the position, the surface temperature and the humidity readings separate condensation on a cold wall from water escaping out of a pipe.
Mould in a rented home usually stalls over one question: whose job is it. What a landlord in England is generally responsible for, why reporting it in writing matters, what Awaab's Law changed, and how a leak survey documents the water source.
A supply pipe leaking under a sealed drive usually shows nothing on the surface. How the leak announces itself indirectly, the ten-minute test that tells you whether the pipe is losing water, and how a leak under block paving or a concrete drive is pinpointed before anything is lifted.
A liquid leak sealer can close a pinhole weep somewhere in a heating system. It cannot close a failing joint, a split pipe or a leak on the boiler, and dosing blind can cost more than finding the leak. When it is worth trying, how to add it, and how to tell it has failed.
Your water supply pipe runs from a stop tap near the pavement to the stopcock inside, and nobody has a map of it. How to work out its route, how deep it should be, which locating methods work on copper, lead and plastic, and what water company maps can and cannot tell you.
A UV dye kit can show a leak on a radiator valve or an exposed joint, but it cannot see through floors or walls, which is where most slow pressure loss comes from. How dye kits and hired detectors work, where they fall short, and when a professional survey is the cheaper option.
A hiss or trickle inside a wall when every tap is off can be a cistern, the heating or a neighbour, or a pressurised pipe leaking where you cannot see it. How to tell which in half an hour with your meter and stopcock, and how a leak you can hear is pinpointed without opening up the wall.
Water that gets through a flat roof membrane travels under the felt, rubber or fibreglass before it shows on the ceiling, which is why patches above the stain so often fail. What you can check yourself, what flood tests, moisture mapping and electronic membrane testing can and cannot find, and when it is worth locating the breach before any repair.