East Anglian Leak Detection
07700 102 008
East Anglian Leak Detection
Call us
Home / Suffolk / Hadleigh

Hadleigh and the Brett valley

Leak detection in Hadleigh for period homes and conversions

Nobody wants beams, lime plaster or stone flags opened on a hunch. Our leak detection in Hadleigh finds the leak first, so any opening stays as small as the repair.

Found before anything is opened

Bathroom fittings tested separately

Report with readings and photographs

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote

Get a quote

Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Hadleigh grew rich on wool, and its streets show it: timber-framed and brick houses, many listed, some decorated with pargeting, the raised plasterwork of old Suffolk. Many predate indoor plumbing, so pipes were threaded in later, under floors and behind lath and plaster, wherever a route could be found.

Out in the Brett valley, some farm buildings have become homes with underfloor heating under stone or tiled floors. In both, a wrong guess is costly to put right, so we prove where the leak is from the surface before anyone lifts a board or a flag.

A pink colour-washed thatched cottage with a picket fence and cottage garden, typical of a Suffolk village Painted Victorian houses on a seafront road above a shingle beach, typical of the Suffolk coast

How a typical Hadleigh leak gets found

Stain on a beam below a concealed shower

The property

A listed timber-framed house in the old part of town, with a shower set into a stud wall upstairs and a beamed sitting room below.

The problem

A dark mark spread along a beam beneath the shower, even on days nobody showered. A tiler had already resealed the tray, and the mark kept growing.

How we found it

Moisture readings led to the wall behind the shower valve. Pressure tests on its feeds showed the hot side falling, and listening at the wall picked up the escaping water.

The outcome

The repair, quoted separately, went in through a small panel on the bedroom side at the marked spot, so the shower tiles were spared. The report went with the claim.

Underfloor heating loop under a converted barn's flagstones

The property

A barn conversion in the countryside outside Hadleigh, with underfloor heating beneath stone flags and the manifold, the valves feeding each loop, in a boot room.

The problem

The boiler pressure fell to nothing every few days, yet every floor was dry. The owners dreaded lifting carefully laid flags that would be hard to match.

How we found it

With the loops shut in turn at the manifold, the gauge only held once the kitchen loop was off. Warmed, that loop showed on the thermal camera; tracer gas confirmed the point.

The outcome

One flag was marked and photographed, and lifting it for the repair was quoted separately. Insulation around pipes can limit a survey, but here the readings were clear.

Hadleigh owners we work for

Owners of listed and timber-framed houses

Bathrooms squeezed into old houses often sit over beamed ceilings. When a stain appears, readings and part-by-part tests trace the cause without a board lifted to look.

Barn conversions with underfloor heating

A sinking boiler gauge with every floor dry usually means one loop is leaking. Loops are checked at the manifold, then warmed and traced, before any flag is touched.

Anyone with a claim to make

Insurers sometimes want evidence of the leak's position before they agree to opening up. Our report lists the location, methods, readings and photographs, and follows payment.

Leak allowances and your evidence

Anglian Water supplies Hadleigh. Water companies set their own leak policies, and some reduce the bill after a customer's supply pipe is mended, so ask what yours offers. Photographs and a written location from our report may support the request. In older houses here, that pipe may enter under a brick floor.

Find it, agree the fix, then repair

1

Finding and confirming

We locate the leak from the surface with whichever method suits the building, then check it with another. Only after that is the spot marked and photographed.

2

Agreeing the repair

You get one price for finding the leak and another for mending it. Agree the repair price in advance and it holds, provided we do the work during that visit.

3

Repair and 3 month guarantee

Any opening begins at the mark, kept to what the job needs. Our 3 month guarantee on repairs covers the pipes and fittings we fitted, rather than your whole system.

How old buildings are surveyed

Moisture meters

These measure dampness in plaster, timber and stone from the surface. Water in an old house rarely falls straight down, so the readings show where it has travelled.

Pressure testing

A pipe is isolated and a gauge watched. Hidden feeds to a shower or basin can be tested like this without cutting the wall, showing which pipe to trace.

Thermal imaging

With hot water or heating on, the camera picks up warmth on plaster, boards and flags. In conversions it shows each underfloor loop and any warmth spreading from one.

Villages and towns around Hadleigh

Lavenham shares Hadleigh's timber-framed streets, and Sudbury lies to the west on the Stour. Needham Market and Ipswich are to the north and east, with Manningtree just over the Essex border to the south.

Leak detection in Lavenham Leak detection in Manningtree Leak detection in Acton Leak detection in Ipswich Leak detection in Needham Market Leak detection in Sudbury Leak detection in Suffolk
Brick family homes with gravel drives in a cul-de-sac on the edge of a market town, typical of Suffolk

Where opening up should begin

Our report gives the location, methods, readings and photographs, and the mark we leave on your floor or wall shows where to open. Until the pipe is exposed nothing is proven, so that first opening settles it. In a listed house, talk to your insurer first. The report follows payment in full.

Leaks we trace

Water leak detection Leaking water main Central heating leak detection Leaking underfloor heating Shower leak detection Underground water leak detection Gas pipe leak detection Thermal imaging leak detection Acoustic water leak detection Tracer gas leak detection Commercial leak detection Trace and access leak detection Leak detection for landlords Water leak repair

Useful guides

Boiler overflow pipe dripping outside: what it means Damp patch on an internal wall: leak, condensation or something else? Gas meter capped after a leak: what happens next Hot water leak or cold water leak: how to tell which pipe is leaking

Common questions in Hadleigh

Only for the repair, never for the search. Testing and tracing happen from the surface. Once a second method confirms the spot and it is marked, a board or a patch of plaster may be lifted at that point and nowhere else.

Only in the care taken; the tests themselves do not change. Nothing is drilled or lifted to search, and moisture readings are taken from the surface only. If opening up is needed, you will know exactly where before anyone starts.

We find out by closing the loops in turn at the manifold until the pressure holds. That loop is warmed and followed on a thermal camera, then tracer gas confirms the point. Heating leaks are priced beforehand; no find, no fee on home water leaks does not cover central heating.

It is wise to, since certain policies need the insurer’s say-so before work starts. Whatever they decide, our report stays the same: location, methods, readings and photographs, sent once the visit is paid. Whether a claim is paid is up to the insurer.

We do, including Kersey, Layham and the other villages round the town, as part of leak detection across Suffolk. Farmhouses and cottages on long supply pipes are part of the work too. Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.

Old Hadleigh house with a leak?

Call 07700 102 008 and tell us about the building. Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection