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Leak detection in Norwich for rented homes and flats

Leak detection in Norwich often involves more than one person: the tenant who noticed the stain, the landlord or agent who pays, and sometimes the flat upstairs. Our engineer Charlie finds the leak, and the written report is ready to pass on.

Bookings by landlords and agents

Flats and shared houses tested

Pipework repairs quoted separately

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Many people in Norwich rent. Students share terraced houses, young professionals rent flats in the centre and along the river, and plenty of older houses have been split into flats. So a leak here often concerns a landlord, an agent or the neighbour upstairs as well as whoever spotted it.

Water leak detection in Norwich therefore starts with access. Reaching the stop tap, the meter and every room the pipes cross can mean a tenant, a key safe and the flat above all being ready on the day. Once the visit is paid, the written report follows.

Further out, the interwar and post-war suburbs bring different jobs: supply pipes under drives and front gardens, and heating buried in solid floors. External leak detection in Norwich usually means one of those supply pipes, followed from the pavement meter towards the front door of the house.

A farm track leading across ploughed fields to a red brick farmhouse under a wide sky, typical of rural Norfolk Victorian red brick terraced houses on a sloping street, typical of Norwich

Typical leaks in Norwich lets and flats

Landing ceiling below four en suites in a shared house

The property

A large Victorian terrace let to students as a shared house, with four en suites fitted into the bedrooms on the first and second floors.

The problem

A tenant sent the agent photos of brown marks spreading across the first floor landing ceiling. The agent had four bathrooms to suspect and did not want tiles lifted in all of them.

How we found it

Moisture readings on the landing ceiling found the wettest patch below one second floor bedroom. Each en suite's shower was then run on its own under the thermal camera, and only one sent warm water spreading beneath the floor.

The outcome

We marked and photographed the leaking valve joint behind that shower. The report went from the agent to the landlord, who approved the separate repair quote before a date was set.

Lifting laminate in a flat on a concrete floor

The property

A flat two floors up in a modern block on the city's outskirts, with concrete floors. Its own cold supply runs in the screed from a stop valve by the front door to the kitchen.

The problem

Laminate along the bedroom wall was lifting and the skirting felt damp, though the flat below was dry. The leaseholder's insurer wanted the source found before anything was taken up.

How we found it

Moisture readings mapped the wet strip. With the flat's stop valve shut, its supply failed a pressure test; tracer gas fed into it then rose through the screed by the bedroom doorway.

The outcome

We marked and photographed the point. The report went to the leaseholder for the claim and to the managing agent, and the repair to the pipe was quoted separately.

Three kinds of Norwich booking

Letting agents and landlords

A tenant forwards a supplier's letter or sends a photo of a stain. Say the property is not yours and name the payer; when the payer cannot attend, they may need to pay first.

Flats with water coming from upstairs

Water arrives through your ceiling from a home you cannot get into. We test from the flat above where we can, and the report shows both households where it came from.

Policyholders asked for proof

Your insurer wants to know where the water is going before anything is opened. Read the trace and access wording first; our report gives the location, methods, readings and photographs.

Pavement meters and shared supplies

Norwich is supplied by Anglian Water. Along terraced streets, meters tend to sit under pavement covers, sometimes several in a row, and some older terraces share a supply with next door, so one letter can concern two households. In blocks of flats the water often comes through a shared pipe first, so tell the managing agent. From the meter to your home, the pipe is normally the owner's.

Arranging a visit to a home you do not live in

1

Who is booking, and who pays

Tell us whose property it is and who settles the bill. We take card details to hold the slot, and someone else paying may need to pay before the date is confirmed.

2

Every room and cupboard we need

The stop tap, the meter cover, any manifold and the flat upstairs all need to be reachable. Free parking within 100 metres matters on tight terraced streets, so mention permits.

3

Report first, repair quote alongside

Once payment for the visit is complete, the written report follows, ready for a landlord, agent or insurer to use. Any repair is quoted on its own, for the owner to approve.

What each test needs from a Norwich house

Thermal imaging

Warm pipes are what the camera sees, so the heating or hot taps must be on. In a shared house we run each bathroom in turn to tell them apart.

Acoustic listening

Buried supply pipes give a leak away by its hiss, which the ground microphone tracks to the loudest point. City traffic can drown that sound out, which is one reason tracer gas often backs it up.

Tracer gas

A hydrogen and nitrogen mix put into an isolated pipe surfaces where the pipe is broken. It confirms what listening suggests, and finds quiet leaks on plastic pipe.

Beyond the ring road

Thorpe St Andrew and Brundall sit east of the city along the Yare, Hethersett and Wymondham to the south-west, Poringland to the south-east, and Wroxham to the north-east on the way into the Broads.

Flint and red brick cottages with pantile roofs facing a village green, with a round-towered church behind, typical of a Norfolk village

Let property and the landlord's policy

With a let property, the building cover normally sits with the landlord, so a claim for finding a leak usually belongs on the landlord's buildings policy, not the tenant's contents cover. Landlords should read the trace and access wording and check if approval is needed first. Payment for the visit releases the report.

Common questions in Norwich

Yes. Tell us the property belongs to someone else and who is paying. If whoever pays will be absent, we may ask for the money up front. The tenant, or a key safe, then gives us access to the meter, stop tap and rooms.

Both, in most cases, as we can usually repair the pipework too. The repair is priced separately, and a price agreed beforehand holds if the work happens during the visit. What we install is guaranteed for 3 months. Testing old pipe can show a second weak spot, which would be priced on its own.

It is, if we can reach the manifold. Shutting off one loop at a time shows which is losing pressure, and the camera then follows it across the warmed floor. A membrane or insulation beneath can soften the picture, and we explain that on the day.

Not if we know in advance. We need free parking within 100 metres, so a visitor permit or a nearby free space helps. Any parking or toll charges are passed on at cost, in the same way as materials are.

Compare the serial number stamped on the meter with the one on your water bill. On a row of meters that matters, because a test on the wrong one proves nothing. If you are unsure, we check it when we arrive.

Leak at a Norwich let or flat?

Call 07700 102 008 any day, 8am to 8pm. Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.