Leaking Pipe Repair in London

Where is the water leak coming from?

Pipe leaks almost always start at a weak point rather than the middle of a sound pipe. The usual suspects, roughly from most to least common: a compression joint where the brass olive has stopped sealing, a braided flexible tap connector whose hose has perished or whose washer has split, an isolation valve leaking from its spindle, a push-fit joint that was never fully seated, and a pinhole in old copper where corrosion has eaten through from inside.

The drip you can see is often not where the water is escaping. Water tracks along the underside of a pipe and drops from the lowest bend. Dry the whole run with kitchen roll and watch which fitting gets wet first. If you cannot see any pipe at all, turn every tap off and check whether the water meter dial is still moving. If it is, the leak is somewhere on the pressurised supply. Our guide to a leak inside a wall covers what to look for next.

A braided tap connector with a bulge, rust staining or frayed strands can burst without warning. If you see one, close its isolation valve until it is replaced.

How is a leaking pipe repaired?

The engineer isolates the section, then makes a permanent repair suited to the pipe. On a leaking compression joint, that can mean tightening it, or cutting the old olive off and fitting a new one if it has already been overtightened. On a pinhole in copper, the damaged section is cut out and replaced, because one pinhole usually means the pipe wall is thin nearby. Perished tap connectors and seized isolation valves are swapped for new ones.

Where the leak is under the floor or behind a wall, we open up as small an area as possible, usually after narrowing it down by isolating branches of pipework in turn. If the leak is on the supply pipe outside, we tell you whether it sits on your side or the water company’s. For something to hold the water back until then, see our temporary fixes for a leaking pipe.

What does a leaking pipe repair cost?

In market terms a visible leak on a joint, tap connector or valve is usually one of the cheaper plumbing jobs: a short visit and a part that costs a few pounds. Replacing a section of copper under floorboards is more, and a leak inside a tiled wall or under a concrete floor costs the most, because finding it and making good take longer than the repair.

With us the £60 call-out gets an engineer there, and the repair price is agreed on site before any work starts. Our guide to what an emergency leak repair costs lists the things that move the price.

Who fixes a leak on the pipe outside?

The supply pipe from the boundary stop tap into your home is the property owner’s to maintain and repair, including the stretch under the front garden or drive. The pipe from the main up to the boundary box belongs to the water company, which for most of London is Thames Water. A leak at an outside meter, or one that shows as wet ground in the pavement, may be theirs, and some companies fix supply pipe leaks free or at a reduced rate, so ask them first. Our page on a water company leak versus a plumber’s job sets out who to call.

When a leaking pipe cannot wait

A slow drip into a bowl that stops when you close a local valve can wait for a daytime visit. Call now if the leak will not isolate, if water is reaching electrics or coming through a ceiling, if the leak is on a heating pipe and the boiler pressure is falling, or if you have had to shut off the whole house and have no water.