Water causing damage - First turn off mains water supply by closing your stock cock, often under the kitchen sink or where mains water pipe comes into your property. Use buckets, pans, and towels to minimise damage. Then post a job to plumbers in your area to see who is available to attend.

Leak from bath and shower

The most common cause of bath and shower leaks is when the silicone seal between the bath and tiles is old and starts pulling away from surfaces letting water ingress. Silicone seals on baths and showers need renewing every year or two.

There can also be leaks from the plastic drain pipes taking bath or shower waste water away, if joints are not properly connected and water does not drain properly leaks can occur. These pipes and connections may be visible by removing the bath panel otherwise flooring may need to be pulled up.

The pipes supplying water and the connections to valves and taps are another possible source of leaks, these connections are often buried in walls and may require tiles and plaster to be removed to get at.

Toilet leaking

Water leaking onto floor – seal at back of toilet leaking due to toilet moving or rubber seal is worn out. For minor leaks the water usually only comes out only when flushing.

Water flowing from the cistern into the bowl constantly means the water inlet valve is letting by and needs changing.

Water coming out of the flush handle means the flush rubber seal needs changing.

Leaks from under sink or basin or their taps

The plastic pipes under your sink or basin can leak if the pipes are not connected properly especially under kitchen sinks when water is backing up eg when your washing machine or dishwasher are emptying into this pipework. The solution can simply be dismantling the connections, checking for blockages and then reconnecting then careful not to cross thread and firmly tighten.

Dripping kitchen sink and basin taps

If the spout drips continuously then limescale may be the cause; both rubber seal O-rings fail and the ceramic cartridges in some modern taps may also require changing. If the leak is coming from the connection where pipes supply water to the taps then the mains needs to be turned off and these connections checked.

Radiator leaking

Radiators can leak if they are old, if there is a leak from the body then both valves should be turned off and the radiator replaced.

If the leak is coming from where the valves connect to the radiator or from the valves themselves then your heating system may require draining and the valves either changed or at least reconnected.

The bleed gland where the bleed screw is very rarely leaks but if heavily corroded or the wrong screw is inserted then this can happen, Depending on the radiator the gland may be able to be replaced otherwise it’s a new radiator…or the cheap temporary option some ptfe tape around the screw !

Ceiling dripping water or wet patch

Leaking pipes can cause extensive damage to a property especially to electrics and in extreme cases ceilings can collapse. Corroded central heating pipes or faulty connections are common as are leaks from header tanks eg where the overflow pipe is not connected.

Stopping the leak is often easy however repairing water damage can be a big job.

Pipes can burst for a number of reasons such as;

1. Hammering a nail into a wall where water pipes are is an obvious way to start a leak

2. During winter if temperatures go below freezing then frozen water in pipes expands and splits open pipes which then leak.

3. Copper pipes buried under the floor in concrete can corrode away if not lagged properly as concrete is corrosive to copper.

4. Heating systems often contain iron rust from radiators and the rust moves along the copper pipes and if pipes run in ceilings close to transformers containing powerful magnets then over months or years the relatively hard iron rust scratches the inside of copper pipes until the pipe wall becomes thin and eventually leaks (not many people know this but I once emailed thousands of plumbers to figure it out).

Estimates for common plumber jobs;

Rates for other trades