East Anglian Leak Detection
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Sudbury and the Stour valley

Leak detection in Sudbury for older and extended homes

Many Sudbury houses have grown at the back, leaving the old supply pipe under a newer kitchen. Our leak detection in Sudbury finds where it leaks before anyone breaks up a good floor.

Leaks found under extension floors

A second method before marking

Repairs guaranteed for 3 months

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote

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Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Sudbury is a market town on the Stour, right on the Essex border, where silk is still woven. Its streets mix old brick houses with homes from most decades since, and many of them have been extended: a kitchen across the back, perhaps a bathroom above it.

Each addition can bury a pipe. A supply that once crossed open garden may now run beneath tiles, joined to newer pipe out of sight, and heating circuits get stretched into the new room. So we ask what was added, and where pipes might pass beneath it.

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

Typical leaks we find around Sudbury

Supply pipe buried under a later kitchen extension

The property

A Victorian brick house near the centre, its supply entering at the back. A tiled kitchen extension was later built straight over the pipe's path.

The problem

Anglian Water wrote about water passing all the time. Taps and cisterns checked out, but one grout line by the old back door looked darker than the rest.

How we found it

With the stop tap shut, the meter dial still crept round, so the leak was before the stop tap. Listening on the tiles was loudest by the old back door, and moisture readings in that grout line agreed.

The outcome

Rather than lift tiles, the owners chose a new pipe routed around the extension, quoted separately. The marked and photographed spot went into our report, which they sent to Anglian Water.

Gas pipe made safe at an industrial unit

The property

A small industrial unit on the edge of town, its gas meter by the entrance and the pipe buried beneath a concrete yard.

The problem

Staff smelled gas in the yard. The gas emergency service attended and isolated the supply, but where the buried pipe was leaking remained unknown.

How we found it

With the supply already made safe, a pressure test showed the buried length was losing pressure. Tracer gas went in, and the detector picked it up rising through a crack in the yard.

The outcome

The point was marked on the concrete and photographed, ready for the firm's own gas engineer to dig and repair. Our report went into the firm's files and to its insurer.

Sudbury households and businesses we help

Owners of extended older houses

A meter letter arrives, the rooms look dry, and the old pipe route lies under the kitchen. Pinpointing the leak means only that patch gets opened.

Homes with a bathroom over the kitchen

A mark on the kitchen ceiling after baths suggests the waste or a seal above. We run the bath, basin and shower separately, reading the damp as we go, so tiles stay put.

Businesses on the edge of town

Workshops and units often have longer pipes and bigger yards. Firms may be asked to pay before a booking is confirmed; to cancel, a business gives at least one working day's notice.

Your supply pipe, even under an extension

Anglian Water supplies Sudbury. Responsibility usually changes hands at the meter or boundary, with the supply pipe into the house falling to the owner. An extension built over that pipe normally leaves it the owner's, only harder to reach. If you know roughly where it runs under a newer room, say so.

Splitting the system to find the leak

1

Supply, heating or hot water?

Which system is losing water comes first. The meter and stop tap test the supply, the boiler gauge shows the heating, and running hot water alone checks that side.

2

Old house, extension or between

Separate pressure tests on each length show whether the loss sits in the original house, the extension, or the joint where the two pipe runs meet.

3

Pinning the point

Tracer gas, thermal imaging or a ground microphone finds the exact spot. Only when a second method backs it up do we mark the floor and photograph it.

Methods we use most in Sudbury

Tracer gas

Handy where a pipe lies beneath tiles or concrete laid long after it. Leaking out at the fault, the gas works up through floor joints to our detector.

Pressure testing

Close off one section, fit a gauge and wait. A drop proves that section leaks, though not where, so it tells us which part to search.

Thermal imaging

Switching on the heating or hot water warms the pipes, so the camera shows them as lines on floors and walls, and escaping water as a spreading patch.

Places near Sudbury

Long Melford and Lavenham share Sudbury's old timber and brick, and Acton and Clare are both close by. Over the Essex border lie the villages of Great and Little Maplestead.

Leak detection in Acton Leak detection in Long Melford Leak detection in Little Maplestead Leak detection in Lavenham Leak detection in Great Maplestead Leak detection in Clare 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

When your report arrives

Our written report covers the location, methods, readings and photographs, and is written to support a trace and access claim. We send it once the invoice is settled, so pay promptly if your claims handler is waiting for it. Whether a claim succeeds is always for the insurer to decide.

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 Sudbury

We do. A meter still moving with the stop tap off points to the buried pipe; a ground microphone or tracer gas then tracks it from above. A second method backs up the first before marking, so digging stays in one place.

On pipework, in most cases, with its own quote. Say yes to a repair price up front and it is honoured only for a repair on that visit. Every repair we make is guaranteed for 3 months, on the pipe and fittings we install.

Usually, yes. An extension on top does not normally move responsibility, but it does make the pipe harder to reach. Sometimes a new pipe routed around the room is the simpler fix. We find the leak first so you can weigh up both options.

No. No find, no fee on home water leaks applies to homes only. Shops, units and offices have a price agreed beforehand, covering a half or full day, and firms may need to pay ahead of confirmation. Full conditions are on our terms page.

Yes, on both banks. We provide leak detection in Suffolk and Essex alike, so villages along the Stour are within reach, Bures and Nayland included. Give us the address when you ring; visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.

Built over your supply pipe in Sudbury?

Call 07700 102 008 and describe any extension built over your pipe. Lines are open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection