Pressure testing
Sections of pipework are isolated and pressure tested one at a time, which narrows the leak to a single run before anything is opened.
Leak Detection in Louth (Drogheda, Dundalk, Ardee)
Leak detection for hidden water leaks in Louth homes and businesses: a damp patch that keeps spreading, a water meter that never stops turning, a heating system that needs topping up every week. The aim is to find the leak while opening up as little floor and wall as possible.
- Homes and businesses
- All of County Louth
- Ask for the price before work starts
- Chat open any time
Signs of a hidden leak
Leak detection in Louth starts with the symptoms
Hidden leaks are rarely dramatic. They show up as small things that do not add up:
- A damp patch that grows or comes back
- Mould or a musty smell in one spot
- Floor tiles lifting or boards swelling
- A warm patch on a concrete floor
- The sound of running water when nothing is on
- A boiler that keeps losing pressure
- A toilet cistern that never stops filling
- Water meter moving with every tap off
A five-minute meter test you can do yourself: turn off every tap and appliance that uses water, read the water meter (usually in a small chamber near the boundary of the property), wait 30 minutes without using any water, and read it again. If the numbers moved, water is escaping somewhere.
Water coming through now? Turn off the stopcock (often under the kitchen sink or in the hot press) and switch off the immersion and boiler. If water is near sockets or light fittings, keep clear and turn off the electricity at the fuse board if it is safe to reach. Then call.
Where hidden leaks usually turn up
- Under shower trays with a failed seal
- Heating pipes buried in a concrete floor
- Joints on the hot water cylinder in the hot press
- Toilet cisterns leaking silently into the pan
- Radiator valves and pipe tails
- Attic tanks and overflow pipes
- The supply pipe between the meter and the house
How leaks are found
The methods used to trace a hidden leak
No single test finds every leak. The method depends on whether it is a cold water, hot water or heating leak, and where it seems to be.
Thermal imaging
Hot water and heating pipes show up clearly on a thermal camera, so a leak in a heated pipe under a floor often shows as a bright spot.
Acoustic listening
Water escaping under pressure makes a noise. Listening equipment on the floor or the pipe can pinpoint where it is loudest.
Moisture mapping
Moisture readings across a floor or wall show where the damp is spreading from, which is not always where it appears.
Tracer gas
For the hardest leaks, a harmless gas is put into the drained pipe and detected where it escapes through the floor.
The obvious first
Before any of that, the simple checks: the shower seal, the cistern, the valves you can see. Plenty of leaks are found there.
Whose leak is it?
Your side of the meter or the water supplier's
If the meter test shows a leak but nothing inside the house is wet, the leak may be on the supply pipe running underground from the meter or boundary to your house. Uisce Éireann runs a First Fix scheme that can investigate and repair leaks on that external supply pipe for domestic customers, so it is worth checking water.ie before you pay for that part of the job.
Leaks inside the house, under floors and on the heating system are the homeowner's to fix. Many home insurance policies include cover for tracing and accessing a hidden leak, so check your policy and talk to your insurer before work starts.
A heating system that loses pressure is also a leak, just on the heating side. See boiler repair if the boiler itself is the one complaining.
1. Tell us the signs
Where the damp is, when it started, and what the meter test showed. Photos help.
2. Trace the leak
The leak is traced using the method that suits it, opening up as little as possible.
3. Repair it
The leaking joint or pipe is repaired and the system is checked before the floor goes back.
Finding the leak, not just the damp patch
Hidden leaks traced in homes and businesses across County Louth.
Where we work
Leak Detection across County Louth
Drogheda
Leak detection Drogheda, including older terraced houses where pipework runs under solid floors.
Dundalk
Leak detection Dundalk for homes, rentals and business premises across the town.
Ardee
Hidden leaks traced around Ardee and mid-Louth, on mains-fed and well-fed supplies.
Louth
Leak detection for Louth village, Dunleer, Clogherhead, Termonfeckin and Carlingford.
Leak Detection questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Will you need to lift my floor?
Sometimes a small section has to come up to reach the pipe. The point of tracing the leak first is to open one small area in the right place instead of several in the wrong ones.
Does my home insurance cover leak detection?
Many policies include cover for tracing and accessing a hidden water leak, often called trace and access. Policies differ, so check yours and contact your insurer before any work starts.
How do I know if the leak is on my side or the water supplier's?
Do the meter test first. If the meter moves but nothing in the house is wet, the leak may be on the external supply pipe, and Uisce Éireann's First Fix scheme may help. Details are on water.ie.
Can the leak be repaired once it is found?
In most cases the repair is part of the same job. Tell us what you are seeing when you get in touch so the right parts are on hand.
My boiler keeps losing pressure but I cannot see water. Is that a leak?
Very likely. Water leaving a sealed heating system has to go somewhere, often a pipe under a floor or a faulty relief valve discharging outside.