General plumbing

Plumbing services across Surrey and south-west London

Leaks: finding them properly

A visible drip is the easy case. The difficult ones are the leaks you cannot see: a slow weep under a floor, a failing joint inside a wall, a cracked waste behind a bath panel. The evidence arrives as a stain on a ceiling, a warm patch on a floor, a rising water bill, or a heating system that keeps losing pressure.

Finding a hidden leak is a process of elimination: isolating sections, watching the meter with everything closed, checking obvious weak points first — compression joints, old solder joints, appliance connections, and any pipework that has been disturbed by other trades. Lifting the whole floor is a last resort, not a starting point.

Taps, mixers and why cheap ones cost more

A dripping tap is usually a worn washer on a traditional tap or a failed ceramic cartridge on a modern one. Cartridges are model-specific and not always available, which is the practical argument for buying a recognised brand: parts exist in five years.

Low pressure at a mixer is often not the tap at all but a partly closed isolation valve under the basin, a blocked aerator, or a tap designed for high pressure fitted on a gravity-fed system. We check the simple causes before recommending anything be replaced.

Toilets

A continuously running toilet wastes a startling volume of water — enough to show on a metered bill. The cause is nearly always the fill valve or the flush valve seal, both straightforward to replace.

A leak at the base usually means a failed pan connector or wax seal. A slow flush points at a partial blockage or an incorrectly adjusted flush mechanism rather than anything serious. Concealed cistern units need care: access is limited and using the right replacement parts matters far more than usual.

Showers

Electric showers heat water on demand from the cold main, so their performance is dictated by incoming pressure and by their kilowatt rating. A common complaint is a shower that runs cool in winter — the incoming water is colder, and the same unit has less capacity to raise it.

Mixer showers blend hot and cold, so they depend on both supplies being balanced. Thermostatic valves protect against scalding when another outlet is opened, which is why they are standard now and why an old non-thermostatic valve is worth replacing in a family home.

In hard water areas the shower head is the first thing to scale up. Descaling or replacing it is often the whole fix for a shower that has gradually weakened.

Kitchens, bathrooms and appliances

We handle the plumbing side of bathroom and kitchen work: first and second fix, waste runs set with a proper fall, appliance connections with correct isolation and non-return protection where needed, outside taps fitted with an isolation valve and a check valve as regulations require.

Waste and drainage problems are often misdiagnosed. A slow-draining basin is usually a trap full of debris rather than a drainage fault. A gurgling sound elsewhere when you empty a bath points at a venting problem in the soil stack, which is a different job entirely.

Water pressure and stopcocks

Low pressure throughout a property has a short list of causes: a partly closed stopcock, a restriction in an old lead or steel supply pipe, a failing pressure reducing valve, or genuinely low mains supply. They are quick to distinguish with a gauge and a few minutes.

Every property owner should know where the internal stopcock is and be certain it turns. A seized stopcock discovered during a burst is the difference between a wet floor and a ruined ceiling. If yours will not move, have it replaced before you need it — it is a small job that prevents a large bill.

How we charge

An hourly rate with a minimum first hour, told to you before we set off rather than after the work. Where your description makes it clear the job is larger, we quote a single price instead so there are no surprises. We carry the common parts — washers, cartridges, valves, connectors, pan connectors — which means most small jobs finish on the first visit rather than becoming two appointments and two charges.