Leaks & Water Damage
Leak detection
TL;DR
A proper leak-detection visit is £220–£420 and takes 90 minutes to 3 hours. We use four techniques together — acoustic listening, thermal imaging, tracer gas and moisture mapping — so we find the leak without smashing up your floor to look. You get a written report suitable for your insurer, and the £50 diagnostic is deducted if you book the repair with us.
If you can hear water when nothing's on, your meter is spinning with everything off, or your boiler pressure keeps dropping — you've got a hidden leak. The wrong response is to start ripping up floors guessing. The right response is a proper detection survey that finds it first, then makes one small opening in exactly the right place.
This page explains how modern non-destructive leak detection actually works, what a good survey costs, and what your insurer will and won't cover.
Fixed £50 diagnostic
Flat fee. No hourly meter running.
Fair quote or refund
Transparent pricing — refunded if we don't fix it.
Vetted UK engineers
DBS-checked, insured, real reviews.
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How do you find a leak without digging up the floor?
We layer four techniques so the answer isn't a guess. Acoustic listening picks up the hiss of pressurised water escaping through a pinhole — even under 100mm of screed. Thermal imaging shows temperature differences where a hot pipe is warming a floor it shouldn't be. Tracer gas (a safe hydrogen/nitrogen mix) is injected into the drained pipework and rises through the smallest crack to a detector at the surface. Moisture mapping confirms where water has actually gone versus where it started.
- Acoustic — for pressurised mains and heating leaks under screed
- Thermal imaging — for hot-water and central heating leaks
- Tracer gas — the gold standard for slab and buried leaks
- Moisture mapping — to distinguish source from spread
What a proper leak-detection visit looks like
We isolate and pressure-test the system first to confirm the leak is real and roughly where it isn't. Then we survey with acoustic and thermal, then confirm with tracer gas where needed. You leave with a marked-up plan showing the exact location, a photograph, a written report, and a fixed price for the repair — no 'we'll get back to you'.
- System isolation and pressure test
- Multi-technique detection survey
- Marked location — usually accurate to 100mm
- Written report with photos (insurance-ready)
- Fixed-price repair quote before we leave
Will my insurance pay for leak detection?
Most home insurance policies now include 'trace and access' cover — the cost of finding the leak and reinstating the surface afterwards, separate from the repair itself. Cover is typically £5,000–£10,000. We provide a report in the format insurers expect, and we're happy to speak to your loss adjuster directly. Ring your insurer before we come out and quote 'trace and access under an escape of water claim'.
Signs you've got a hidden leak
Any one of these on its own is worth investigating. Two or more and you almost certainly have a leak.
- Water meter dial moving with every tap and toilet turned off
- Combi boiler pressure drops every few days without an obvious reason
- Warm patch on a floor that shouldn't be warm
- Damp smell in a cupboard, especially near pipework
- Unexplained increase in your water bill
- Sound of running water in a wall when nothing's on
- Bubbling plaster or peeling paint at low level on an internal wall
Typical prices
Real-world ranges from recent Northwest jobs. Your final price is confirmed in writing before any work starts.
| Item | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard leak-detection visit (up to 2h) | 220 – 320 | Acoustic + thermal survey |
| Full survey with tracer gas | 320 – 420 | For slab, buried or elusive leaks |
| Central heating leak (drain-down + test) | 280 – 380 | Includes system re-fill |
| External / underground supply leak | 320 – 480 | Ground listening + correlator |
| Written insurance report (included) | 0 | Photos, plan, findings |
| Repair once located (from) | 180 | Fixed quote before work |
Kit & brands we use
We run Fluke thermal cameras, SebaKMT acoustic gear, and Sewerin variotec tracer-gas detectors. All calibrated annually — a poorly-calibrated thermal camera will point at the wrong wall.
Leak-detection red flags
Some firms sell a 'detection' visit that's really just a look and a guess. Ask these before you book.
- Do you use tracer gas as well as acoustic and thermal?
- Will I get a written report with photos suitable for my insurer?
- Is the price fixed or is it an hourly rate that can escalate?
- If you can't find the leak, do I still pay full price?
- Are you insured for trace-and-access work?
- Do you carry out the repair too, or just find it?
Our promise on this job
Flat £50 diagnostic — deducted in full from any work booked. Fair, transparent quote before we start. If we can't fix the fault we diagnosed, we refund the diagnostic. All gas work is signed off by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Talk to KJ about leak detection
Real triage in seconds. £50 diagnostic visit — refunded if we don't fix it.