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Sawston homes and lets

Leak detection in Sawston for bathroom and ceiling leaks

A brown mark under a bathroom tends to grow with every shower. Leak detection in Sawston for a stain like that means testing each fitting in turn before any tile comes off.

Each bathroom fitting tested separately

Damp mapped before anything opens

Reports for landlords and owners

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Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Sawston grew a great deal after the Second World War, and large newer estates now lie to the north-west and south of the old village. Many of their houses have since gained refitted bathrooms, en suites over living rooms and showers fitted where baths once stood.

Water from a shower rarely drips straight down. It runs along a joist or pipe and surfaces as a stain somewhere else, which is why tiles so often come off in the wrong place. We start with readings on the ceiling below and work upwards.

A lone brick house beside a straight drainage channel on flat black fields, typical of the Cambridgeshire fens Pale gault brick Victorian terraced houses with bicycles at the railings, typical of Cambridge

Typical leaks in Sawston homes

Ceiling stain traced to the toilet, not the shower

The property

A post-war semi with the bathroom built over the kitchen, a plasterboard ceiling below, and pipes running between the joists to the bath, basin and toilet.

The problem

A brown mark spread across the kitchen ceiling near the light. The owners blamed the shower, yet it grew while they were away with nothing used.

How we found it

With everything off the meter still moved, so a pipe under pressure was leaking. Moisture readings peaked under the toilet, a pressure test on its cold feed dropped, and thermal imaging showed a cool spread there.

The outcome

A short section of bathroom floor came up at the mark, and we remade the feed's joint before leaving, quoted separately. The shower was never touched.

Meter turning at an empty terrace between tenants

The property

A terraced house let to tenants and empty between lets, with a long back garden and a workshop at the far end fed by a buried pipe.

The problem

Checking the empty house, the landlord found the meter creeping round with nothing in use. The last tenants had mentioned nothing, and no wet ground showed.

How we found it

Shutting the indoor stop tap stopped the meter, and so did closing the workshop branch's valve alone, so that pipe was leaking. Along it the hiss peaked under the patio, and tracer gas in the isolated length agreed.

The outcome

The landlord could not attend, so paid before the booking was confirmed, then received the photographed report by email. The branch repair was quoted separately.

People we help in Sawston

Owners with a stain below the bathroom

Damp that spreads after showers but not baths already narrows things down. We map it, then test each fitting, so tiles only come off at the leak.

Landlords between tenants

An empty house between tenants can lose water for weeks before anyone looks at the meter. Our report goes to you, the owner, not to the next tenant.

Owners on the newer estates

Newer homes often have plastic pipes and heating in a screed floor. A boiler that keeps losing pressure, with no damp in sight, often points there.

Whose pipe is it in Sawston?

Sawston's water comes from Cambridge Water. When its readings suggest water is passing your meter nonstop, a letter may follow. The company maintains the main under the road and its pipe as far as the meter or boundary. Beyond that point the supply pipe is usually yours, and so is any branch to a workshop or garden tap.

How we work through a leaking bathroom

1

Readings on the ceiling first

Moisture readings across the stained ceiling or wall find the wettest point and how far the damp has spread. That tells us which fitting above to test first.

2

Running each fitting alone

The shower, bath, basin, toilet and their wastes are run or filled separately while the readings are watched. Whichever makes the damp grow is the one that leaks.

3

Agreement, mark, report

We want a second method to point at the same place before marking anything. The report then gives you, your landlord or your insurer the readings and photographs.

Tools for leaks you cannot see

Moisture meters

These measure how much water plaster, tiles or a ceiling are holding. Taken in rows across the stain, they reveal its wettest point, which is not always where the mark looks darkest.

Thermal imaging

A leaking hot pipe warms the wall or floor around it, while a cold one cools it. The camera shows both once water has run for a few minutes.

Acoustic listening

For a buried pipe outdoors, such as one running to a garden workshop, the ground microphone hears the leak hissing through soil, slabs or concrete, loudest at the split.

Places near Sawston

Pampisford, Whittlesford and Great Shelford are close by, with similar village houses and post-war homes. Linton lies east, Cambridge north, and Saffron Walden and Royston sit over the county boundaries.

Leak detection in Linton Leak detection in Cambridge Leak detection in Saffron Walden Leak detection in Histon Leak detection in Royston Leak detection in Waterbeach Leak detection in Cambridgeshire
New-build brick and timber-clad townhouses with solar panels and young street trees, typical of a Cambridgeshire estate

What to note down before we visit

If you might claim on trace and access cover, start a record now: photographs of the stain as it grows, and meter readings, each one dated. Check too whether your insurer wants to approve the work. Our written report then adds the location, methods, readings and photographs from the visit.

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 Central heating leak sealer: what it can and cannot do Damp patch on an internal wall: leak, condensation or something else? Gas meter capped after a leak: what happens next

Common questions in Sawston

That points at the shower itself rather than a supply pipe, which would leak whatever you were using. Likely culprits are the tray seal, the waste, the valve or water creeping behind tired grout, and testing each separately shows which.

It could. A toilet’s cold feed is under pressure all the time, so a leak there spreads whether or not anyone uses the bathroom. A meter that moves with everything off points to a pressurised pipe like this, not the shower.

Tell us the property is let when you book, and who will open up. If whoever pays cannot be at the house, we may ask you to settle up front so the slot can be confirmed. The report then comes to you.

Only a leak on the hot or cold supply pipes can qualify. Trays, seals and wastes are not supply pipes, and a leak that appears only when the shower is on comes and goes, which the promise excludes. Full conditions are on our terms page.

Often, on the pipework. Repairs are quoted on top of the detection, and a price agreed beforehand is honoured only if the mending happens while we are still on site. Repairs are guaranteed for 3 months, covering the pipework and fittings we install.

Ceiling stain in Sawston?

Ring 07700 102 008 and tell us when the mark appears. Lines are open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection