Signs you might have a hidden leak
Some leaks are obvious. A lot aren't. The ones worth investigating are the ones you can't see: a water bill that's crept up without explanation, a damp patch on a wall that doesn't correspond to any weather, a water meter that keeps turning with everything off inside the house.
Other signs: floors that feel soft underfoot near pipework, persistent mould on walls that keeps coming back despite treatment, a boiler that keeps losing pressure even though there's no visible drip. None of these are definitive proof of a hidden leak on their own, but a combination of two or more is worth taking seriously.
The worst approach is to start opening up floors and walls speculatively. Done without a proper trace first, you can cause significant disruption and still not find the source. We investigate before we touch anything.
How we find it
The first step is isolating the system and doing a pressure test. If pressure holds, the leak is likely on the waste side or from an external source. If pressure drops, we're looking at a supply pipe failure somewhere in the run.
We use a combination of acoustic equipment for listening through floors and walls, thermal imaging where a leak is producing a temperature differential, and tracer gas where the location is genuinely ambiguous. The aim is to know exactly where to open up before we start, not to find out by cutting a trench through a kitchen floor and hoping.
Older properties in Dorset and Devon often have original pipework running in unexpected places: under concrete floors laid in the 1960s, inside stone walls, chased into surfaces that have been plastered and skimmed several times over. Good trace work matters more in these buildings than in a modern house with accessible pipe routes.
What happens next
Once we've located the leak, we'll give you a clear quote for the repair. Sometimes it's straightforward: a section of pipe replaced through a small access point. Sometimes it means cutting into a concrete floor or opening a section of wall.
For the repair itself, see our plumbing repairs page. Where making good afterwards involves plastering, screeding or tiling, we work with our wider team to sort that cleanly. For larger works like floor reinstatement, see general building work.
We'll also make sure the cause is addressed, not just the symptom. If the pipe has failed in one spot because of age or corrosion, it's worth understanding whether the rest of the run is in similar condition.
What our customers say
"OWB is that rarest of things: a talented, knowledgeable and conscientious professional who comes when he says he'll come and does whatever it takes to deliver a complete result. Trust him absolutely."
Axminster · Checkatrade