24 hours a day, 7 days a week · 1 hour response target
We find the leak. Without the destruction.
Leak detection specialists for Sussex, Surrey and London. Thermal imaging, acoustic correlation and tracer gas locate hidden water leaks to the exact point — before anyone lifts a floorboard or opens a wall. Same-day response, and a report your insurer will accept.
Competitively priced · Non-invasive, no unnecessary damage · Find the source, not the symptom
Survey in progressLive
01Thermal imagingΔ −4.8 °C at ceiling void
02Acoustic correlationPeak at 742 Hz, joist 4
03Moisture mapping98% WME over 380 mm
04Tracer gasH₂ confirmed at joint
Source located
Compression joint · 1.4 m from the stain
01 · Day one
A joint starts to weep
A compression joint on a heating pipe in the floor void begins to seep — a few millilitres an hour. Nothing is visible in either room. Nothing is audible. The only record anywhere is a boiler that needs topping up slightly more often than it used to.
Loss rate
0.6 l / hr
Visible signs
None
Time undetected
11 weeks
02 · Eleven weeks later
The ceiling finally shows it
Water pools on top of the plasterboard and tracks along the joist until it reaches a fixing screw, then comes through. The stain appears 1.4 metres from the failure. Cut a hole under the stain and you find perfectly dry pipework.
Stain diameter
380 mm
Moisture at stain
98% WME
Distance from source
1.4 m
03 · Our survey
Thermal and acoustic, no damage
A radiometric camera reads the temperature of the ceiling and the void behind it, showing the cold plume where the water is actually travelling. Acoustic correlation listens along the pipe run at the same time, and the two agree on the same point.
Δ Temperature
−4.8 °C
Acoustic peak
742 Hz
Damage caused
None
04 · Diagnosis
The source, not the symptom
Both methods converge on the compression joint above joist four — well away from the ceiling stain that everybody had been looking at. We mark it on the floor above and record the position, the depth and the cause before anything is opened up.
Located
Joist 4, +742 mm
Depth
112 mm
Cause
Failed olive
05 · Find and fix
One small opening, one repair
A 150 mm access hole directly over the fault, the joint remade in a compression coupling, and the circuit brought back up to pressure. No floor lifted, no ceiling taken down, and the repair completed on the same visit.
Access opening
150 mm
Repair time
40 min
Return visits
0
06 · Proof
Tested, dried and documented
The circuit is held at test pressure and watched, moisture readings are taken again across the affected area, and the whole job is written up with dated photographs, calibrated readings and a cost schedule your insurer can act on.
Pressure held
1.5 bar / 30 min
Moisture now
14% WME
Report issued
Same day
Day one
Eleven weeks later
Our survey
Diagnosis
Find and fix
Proof
Scroll to follow the leak
Do you have a leak?
Six signs worth taking seriously
Every one of these is a leak until proven otherwise. Advice over the phone is free, and it costs nothing to describe what you are seeing.
No single instrument finds every leak. We arrive with all of them and work through the property system by system until the evidence agrees.
01
Thermal imaging camera survey
A radiometric camera reads surface temperature through plaster, screed and tile to reveal the cold plume of an escaping supply pipe or the warm track of a heating leak.
02
Acoustic leak correlation
Ground microphones and digital correlators listen for the specific hiss of pressurised water forcing its way out of a pipe, then triangulate the exact point.
03
Tracer gas testing
A harmless hydrogen and nitrogen mix is introduced into drained pipework, escapes at the fault, and is picked up at the surface by a gas sensor.
04
Moisture mapping and salts analysis
Pin and pinless meters chart how wet a structure is, and a salts test tells us whether the water arrived from a pipe, from the ground, or from the weather.
05
Pressure and flow testing
Isolating and pressurising each circuit in turn proves which one is losing water, and how fast, before anything is opened up.
06
CCTV drainage survey
A self-levelling camera crawls the drain run and records exactly what is broken, where it is, and how deep.
07
High-pressure water jetting
Water at up to 3,000 psi, fired backwards through a nozzle that drags itself up the pipe, stripping the bore back to the original clay or plastic.
08
Mechanical rodding and drain snake
Rods and a 20-metre powered snake, for blockages close to the surface and for runs too fragile or too tight to jet.
09
Chain knocker descaling and coring
A rotating chain head or coring machine takes off what water alone will not shift — hardened scale, set concrete and cast iron corrosion.
10
Borescope inspection
A camera on a flexible probe goes through a hole the size of a pencil to look inside a void, wall or ceiling.
11
Tracer dye testing
Non-staining fluorescent dye is added to one water source at a time so the escaping water carries a colour-coded label.
12
Pipe and cable tracing
A signal generator puts a tone on the pipe and a receiver follows it, so we map the route and depth before anyone digs.
13
Roof integrity and voltage testing
Low-voltage electronic testing finds breaches in a flat-roof membrane that are invisible from the surface.
Straight answers, published prices, evidence you can hand over
Leak detection attracts guesswork, because guessing is cheap and the customer rarely finds out until the floor is already up. We work the other way round: non-invasive methods first, a specific location rather than a probable one, and a written record of how we proved it.
We are competitively priced and quote every job before we book it, so you know the price before we arrive. If the job turns out to need more, we agree it with you on site first.
Non-invasive
No unnecessary damage
1 hour
Response time target
24/7
Emergency line
Specialist
Leak detection equipment
What it costs
Competitively priced, and quoted per job. Tell us what you are seeing and we will give you a price for the job before anything is booked.
Trace and access cover is in nearly every UK buildings policy. It pays for finding the leak and for the damage caused by getting to it — and most people never claim it, because they do not know it is there.
Calibrated moisture readings and dated photographic evidence
A stated methodology, so a loss adjuster can follow the reasoning
A clear causation finding: escape of water, damp, or weather ingress
First floor void, joist 4, +742 mm from party wall
Method
Thermal imaging, acoustic correlation, tracer gas
Moisture before
98% WME across 380 mm
Moisture after drying
14% WME
Pressure test
Held 1.5 bar for 30 minutes
Where we work
76 towns, cities and boroughs
Engineers based in Brighton and working across Sussex, Surrey and every London borough. Pick your area to see what we typically find in the housing stock near you.
Our home patch. From our Brighton base we cover the coastal strip from Littlehampton to Eastbourne and inland through the Mid Sussex towns, with a one hour response target across the county.
All 32 London boroughs plus the City, covered by engineers working across the capital seven days a week, including overnight attendance for commercial and managed properties.
We are competitively priced and quote every job individually. Tell us what you are seeing, where, and how long it has been going on, and we will give you a price for the job before anything is booked.
Will my home insurance pay for leak detection?
Usually, yes. Almost every UK buildings policy includes trace and access cover, which pays for finding the source of an escape of water and for the damage caused by getting to it. Our reports are written to the standard loss adjusters work to, and we invoice so the cost can be submitted with your claim.
How quickly can you get to me?
We answer the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and target a 1 hour response across Sussex, Surrey and London.
Will you damage my property to find the leak?
No. Thermal imaging, acoustic correlation, tracer gas and moisture mapping are all non-invasive, and we use them first as a matter of course. An opening is only made once the evidence points at one specific place, and it is normally small enough to fill and touch in.
How do I know if I have a hidden water leak?
The reliable test is your water meter. Turn off every tap and appliance, note the reading, and check it again after two hours with nothing used. If it has moved, water is escaping somewhere. Other common signs are a rising bill with no change in usage, a boiler that keeps losing pressure, a warm or cold patch on a floor, a musty smell, or the sound of running water when everything is off.
Can you repair the leak once you have found it?
Yes. Our engineers carry repair materials, so most leaks are fixed on the same visit as the survey and then pressure tested before we leave. Repairs are priced per job and agreed with you before we start.
Do you cover my area?
We cover the whole of Sussex from Littlehampton to Eastbourne and inland through Mid Sussex, all of east and mid Surrey from our Dorking coverage, and every one of the 32 London boroughs plus the City. If you are not sure, call and ask — we will tell you straight away.
What is the difference between damp and a leak?
A leak is clean water escaping from a pipe or the building envelope. Rising damp is ground moisture drawn up through the fabric, and condensation is airborne moisture settling on a cold surface. They look almost identical on a wall, but only escape of water is normally covered by insurance, and each needs a completely different remedy. A salts test on a plaster sample tells them apart in one visit.
Do I need to be at home for the survey?
Someone over 18 needs to give us access and be there while we work, and it helps enormously if that person knows the history — when it started, what has been done already, and where the stop tap is. For managed blocks and commercial sites we can work with a key holder or agent instead.
What should I do right now if water is coming through my ceiling?
Turn the water off at the internal stop tap, and turn off the electricity at the consumer unit if water is anywhere near lights or sockets. Keep out from under a bulging ceiling. Photograph everything before you move it, because your insurer will ask. Then call us.