Articles
Shower Leaking Through the Ceiling? Causes and What to Do
A shower leaking through the ceiling below usually comes down to one of three sources: failed sealant around the tray or screen, a waste pipe joint, or a supply pipe. The timing of the drip tells you which. This guide explains how to read that pattern and what happens next, including who pays in a Scottish tenement.
Leak Detection Specialist vs Plumber: Which Do You Need?
A plumber and a leak detection specialist solve different problems. This guide explains when each is the right call, what equipment a specialist uses that a plumber usually doesn’t carry, and why an insurance claim often depends on which one you choose first.
Underfloor Heating Losing Pressure? Here’s What It Means
A falling pressure gauge on your underfloor heating is a warning worth acting on. This guide explains what causes pressure loss, how to narrow the fault down at the manifold, and when a non-invasive leak survey is the sensible next step.
Moisture Meter Readings Explained: What’s Normal, What’s Not
Moisture meters are a starting point, not a verdict. This guide explains pin versus pinless meters, why every reading is relative rather than absolute, and how professionals map moisture gradients across a wall or floor to trace damp back to its source.
How to Find a Leak in a Central Heating System (DIY Checks First)
Before you call anyone out, most central heating leaks can be narrowed down with a torch, a dry cloth and twenty minutes. Here is how to check radiator valves, pipe runs and the boiler yourself, and how to tell when the leak has moved somewhere DIY checks cannot reach.
Water Leak Between the Meter and Your House: Who Fixes It?
A leak between the meter and your house sits on your side of the boundary, which means the repair bill lands with you. This guide covers the boundary rule, what it means for businesses on a meter, and how moling can fix it without digging up the whole run.
Why Leak Sealer Rarely Fixes a Central Heating Leak
Bottled leak sealer promises a quick fix for a dripping radiator or losing boiler pressure, but it usually just hides the problem. This guide explains how sealants work, why they can cause bigger problems, and the proper way to find and fix a heating leak.
How Much Does Leak Detection Cost in Scotland?
Leak detection cost in Scotland varies by property, pipe location and method needed. This guide covers the published UK market range, what actually drives the price up or down, and how trace and access insurance cover can offset it.
Landlord or Tenant: Who Handles a Water Leak in Scotland?
A water leak in a rented Scottish home raises an obvious question: whose job is it to fix? This guide covers landlord repair duties, tenant reporting responsibilities, the Right to Repair scheme, and what happens if nobody acts.
How to Find a Water Leak Underground
An underground water leak rarely shows itself the way an indoor leak does. This guide covers the DIY checks worth doing first, then how acoustic listening, tracer gas and correlation methods pinpoint the exact spot without digging up your whole garden.
Musty Smell but No Visible Damp? You Might Have a Hidden Leak
A musty smell with no damp patch in sight is one of the earliest signs of a hidden water leak, especially in Scottish solum spaces and suspended floors. Here’s how to tell the difference between a smell worth ignoring and one worth a survey.
5 Signs Your Underfloor Heating Is Leaking
An underfloor heating leak is easy to miss until the floor feels wrong or the system will not hold pressure. Here are the five signs to watch for, why screed and joisted floors behave differently, and how a leak is found without lifting the floor.
Does Home Insurance Cover Water Leaks?
Most buildings insurance policies cover sudden escape of water as standard, but gradual leaks and the cost of finding a hidden leak work differently. Here is what a typical policy covers, what trace and access pays for, and how to document a claim properly.
How to Find a Water Leak Under a Concrete Floor
A leak under a concrete floor rarely announces itself until damage is already done. Here is how to spot the early warning signs, how thermal imaging and tracer gas pinpoint a slab leak without digging, and what happens once the leak is found.
Tracer Gas Leak Detection: How the Hydrogen Method Works
Tracer gas leak detection sends a safe hydrogen and nitrogen mix through empty pipework to find leaks that acoustic methods can miss. Here is how the method works, when it beats other techniques, and why it is safe to use inside an occupied home.
Why Is My Toilet Constantly Running? (And How to Stop It)
A running toilet is almost always the flapper, the fill valve, or the overflow, and it wastes water every hour it runs. Here is how to diagnose which part has failed and when a running cistern actually points to a bigger leak.
How to Report a Leak to Scottish Water (And What Happens Next)
A plain-English walkthrough of how to report a water leak to Scottish Water, how they decide if it’s their pipe or yours, and what happens if a leak on your side of the boundary gets left unfixed.
Tenement Water Leaks: Who Pays for Common Repairs?
Working out who pays for a tenement water leak starts with one question: is the pipe sole-use or shared? This guide covers title deeds, the Tenement Management Scheme, block insurance for common pipes, and the practical steps owners in Glasgow and Edinburgh tenements can take when a leak won’t wait for a factor meeting.
Radiator Leaking? Causes, Quick Fixes and When to Call for Help
A leaking radiator is usually a valve, gland or weep hole letting go, or pinhole corrosion working through the metal. This guide covers how to tell the difference, the towel-and-bowl steps to limit damage right now, and when a persistent leak signals wider corrosion across the whole heating system.
How to Use a Water Meter to Check for Leaks
Most Scottish homes pay for water through council tax, not a meter, so this overnight test mainly suits metered businesses and the smaller number of homes with a water meter fitted. This guide walks through the method, how to isolate internal and external pipework, and what the readings actually tell you.
Detecting Central Heating Leaks: Signs, Tools and When to Call
A central heating leak usually shows up as pressure that keeps dropping, not a puddle on the floor. This guide covers the warning signs, why microbore pipes and corrosion make leaks hard to spot, and how thermal imaging and tracer gas find the fault without lifting every floorboard in the house.
How Acoustic Leak Detection Works
Acoustic leak detection uses sensitive ground microphones to listen for the sound a pressurised leak makes as it escapes a pipe. This guide explains how the hiss travels through pipework and soil, why quiet-hours surveys matter, and when acoustic methods work best alongside thermal imaging and tracer gas.
Water Leak from the Flat Above: Your Rights in Scotland
Water coming through your ceiling from the flat above? This guide explains your rights in Scotland, from title deeds and the Tenement Management Scheme to insurance and Environmental Health. It also shows how professional leak detection proves exactly where the water started.
Trace and Access Cover: What Your Insurance Actually Pays For
Trace and access cover pays to find a hidden leak and open up the property to reach it, but not to repair the pipe itself. Here is what most Scottish buildings insurance policies include, what they exclude, and why an insurance-ready report from a leak detection specialist speeds up the claim.
Condensation or a Leak? How to Tell the Difference
Condensation and a hidden leak can look almost identical on a wall or window reveal, but the pattern, location and season usually give it away. This guide covers the checks you can do yourself, including the foil test, and when it is worth booking a proper survey.
How to Repressurise a Boiler (Step by Step)
Repressurising a boiler is usually a five-minute job using the filling loop, and most people can do it safely themselves. This guide walks through the process step by step and explains when repeated repressurising is actually a sign of a hidden leak.
Who Is Responsible for Water Pipes in Scotland?
Scottish Water owns the mains up to your property boundary; everything from the boundary into your home is yours. This guide sets out the boundary rule, how shared supply pipes in tenements work, and what happens if a leak is left unrepaired.
Damp Patch on Your Ceiling? What It Means and What to Do
A damp patch on the ceiling almost always started before you could see it, since staining lags behind the actual leak. This guide explains the likely causes, what to check yourself, and how a non-invasive survey finds the source without opening up the ceiling.
Boiler Pressure Too High? Causes and Fixes
A boiler gauge reading above 2 bar usually means overfilling, a filling loop left open, or a failed expansion vessel. This guide walks through safe checks you can do yourself and explains when high pressure is actually a symptom of a hidden leak.
How Thermal Imaging Finds Hidden Water Leaks
Thermal imaging cameras read surface temperature, not water itself, so a trained eye is needed to tell a leak from a cold bridge or draught. Here is how the method works, what it can and can’t do, and when it gets paired with acoustic or tracer gas testing.