End-of-Summer Plumbing Checks to Prevent Leaks, Burst Pipes and Water Damage
Twenty minutes of checks at the end of summer prevents the vast majority of the winter leaks and burst pipes we attend across North London.
Almost every burst pipe and ceiling collapse we attend over winter could have been prevented in September for the price of a roll of pipe lagging. Good plumbing maintenance in North London is not complicated — it is a short list of checks done once a year, before the temperature drops.
Here is the list we give Barnet homeowners.
1. Find and test your stopcock
Do this first. Locate it (usually under the kitchen sink, sometimes in the airing cupboard or by the front door in older Barnet terraces), turn it off, then on again. A stopcock that has not moved in ten years will seize — and you will discover that in the middle of a flood. Buy a meter key for the external Thames Water stop tap too.
2. Lag every pipe in the loft and garage
The overwhelming majority of burst pipes we attend across EN4, EN5 and N20 are in unheated loft spaces. Foam lagging costs a few pounds a metre and takes an afternoon. Do the cold tank and its overflow too.
3. Replace ageing flexible hoses
The braided flexi-hoses under sinks and behind washing machines have a service life of around five to eight years. When they fail they do not drip — they spray, at mains pressure, often while nobody is home. If you cannot remember fitting them, replace them.
4. Run the 30-minute meter test
Turn everything off, read the meter, wait half an hour, read it again. Any movement means water is escaping somewhere on your side. Catch it now with proper leak detection rather than after it has been soaking a joist all winter.
5. Clear gullies, gutters and outside drains
Autumn leaves plus a Victorian gully equals water backing up against your brickwork. Clearing them now prevents damp, and prevents the frozen blockage that cracks the pipe in January.
6. Isolate and drain outside taps
Close the internal isolation valve to your garden tap and open the tap to drain it. A frozen outside tap will split the pipe behind the wall, and you often won't know until spring.
7. Check the boiler and heating side too
Pressure holding steady? Radiators warming evenly? Magnetic filter clean? These are the plumbing checks that overlap with your annual boiler service, so booking both together saves a visit.
Book a plumbing maintenance visit
If you would rather have it all done properly in one go, our plumbers run a full plumbing maintenance check across Barnet and North London — stopcock, hoses, pressure, leak test, lagging advice and a written report of anything that needs attention. Get in touch to book yours before the cold arrives.