Everyday plumbing
Small jobs done properly, not bodged
A dripping tap wastes a surprising amount of water and usually needs a washer or a cartridge, not a new tap. A running toilet is normally the flush valve. Low pressure in one outlet is often a blocked aerator rather than a problem with your mains.
We would rather tell you it is a five pound part than sell you a replacement you did not need. That is not charity, it is how people end up calling us again.
What we get called out for
- Leaks under sinks, behind washing machines and from pipe joints
- Dripping taps, stiff taps and mixer cartridges
- Toilets that run constantly, fill slowly or will not flush
- Low water pressure and airlocks
- Blocked sinks, baths, showers and toilets
- Outside taps, stopcocks and isolation valves
- Washing machine and dishwasher connections
- Waste pipes, traps and soil stack problems
Blocked drains
Clearing it is the easy part. Working out why it blocked matters more.
A sink that blocks once is bad luck. A sink that blocks every three months has something else going on: a sagging waste pipe, a badly angled joint from an old refit, or fat that has built up over years into something closer to concrete.
Kitchen sinks
Almost always fat and food waste hardening in the trap or the waste run. We clear it, then tell you honestly whether the pipework itself is part of the problem.
Baths and showers
Usually hair bound up with soap residue just past the trap. Quick to clear, and a strainer costing a few pounds usually stops it happening again.
Toilets and soil pipes
Wet wipes, even the ones sold as flushable, are the main culprit in flats. If several appliances back up at once, the blockage is in the stack rather than your bathroom.
Worth knowing
Find your stopcock before you need it
The single most useful thing you can do about plumbing is know where your stopcock is and check that it actually turns. In most London homes it is under the kitchen sink, sometimes in a hall cupboard, occasionally under the floor near the front door.
If a pipe bursts, the difference between finding it in ten seconds and hunting for it for ten minutes is the difference between a damp patch and a ceiling coming down. Ours is the first thing we point out when we visit. If yours is seized, that is a small job worth doing now rather than at two in the morning.
Common questions
Plumbing questions we get asked
Is a dripping tap actually worth fixing?
Yes, and not only for the water. A drip that has been going for months wears a groove in the seat, which turns a washer replacement into a tap replacement. Fixing it early is the cheaper option.
Should I use chemical drain cleaner first?
We would rather you did not. It rarely shifts a real blockage, it can damage older pipework and plastic traps, and it means whoever opens the pipe afterwards is working with caustic liquid in it. Tell us what you have already poured down so we know.
Who is responsible for a blocked drain in a flat?
Inside your flat, up to the point where your waste joins the shared stack, is normally yours. The stack itself is usually the freeholder or managing agent. We can tell you which side of that line the blockage is on, which is often the argument that needs settling.
Can you find a leak without pulling up the floor?
Often yes. Pressure testing and tracing the pipe run narrows it down a long way before anything gets lifted. We open up as little as we can, but we would rather lift one board and be certain than guess and leave you with a wet ceiling.
Something leaking or blocked?
If water is actively coming in, call rather than message. For everything else, describe it and we will price it.