Leak detection and damp tracing without breaking walls

The stain on the wall is not the leak

This is the mistake that leads to most badly done repairs. Water enters at one point, runs along whatever path it finds, and appears metres below. Anyone who chips out the wall where the stain is opens a hole in the wrong place, closes it, paints, and two months later the stain is back.

Our leak detection starts by eliminating possibilities. We close every appliance and watch the meter. If it keeps turning with everything shut, the leak is in the pressurised water network. If it does not turn, the problem is damp with another origin: drainage, a badly sealed trap box, a terrace, a roof, or the bathroom of the flat above.

How we locate it

• Pressure testing to confirm whether the network is losing water, and how much
• Isolating section by section to narrow the suspect area
• Acoustic survey on floors and walls
• Checking trap boxes, shower tray connections and joints
• Inspecting drain branches when the water is not coming from the supply

The survey phase is non destructive. Nothing gets chipped out until there is reasonable certainty about the point.

Damp between flats

This is the most delicate case, because it involves two owners and often the building management. What matters is establishing objectively where the water comes from, not arguing about who is right.

We carry out the survey and explain the result in a way that serves both sides, with an invoice and a clear description of what was found. In practice, a neutral technical report settles the conversation between neighbours far better than any argument in the corridor.

Signs worth a call

A water bill above normal with no change in habits. A warm patch of floor, in the case of hot water. The sound of running water with everything closed. Damp that comes back shortly after painting. None of these tell you where the leak is, but all of them tell you there is one.

After we find it

We repair it during the same visit wherever possible: replacing the damaged section, remaking the joint, sealing the trap box. When the pipework involved is already at the end of its life, we say so, because repairing one point of a pipe that will fail somewhere else shortly is money wasted.

We issue an invoice describing what was found and repaired, which is the document insurers usually ask for.