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Leak Detection in Lincoln

Lincoln is a straight run south from Scunthorpe down the A15, the old Roman road, through Hibaldstow and Caenby Corner and past Scampton into the top of the city: about 28 miles and 45 minutes. The A46 bypass takes us round to the west and south for Saxilby, Skellingthorpe, North Hykeham and Waddington. Surveys are fixed price, travel included, with a written report suitable for an insurance claim.

Where we work in and around Lincoln

We cover the whole city, uphill and down: the Bailgate and Cathedral quarter, Newport, Nettleham Road and Burton Road; the Ermine estate, St Giles and Monks Road; the West End, Carholme, Sincil Bank and the High Street; and Boultham, Hartsholme, Birchwood, Doddington Park and Bracebridge to the south and west. Around the city we regularly attend North Hykeham, South Hykeham, Waddington, Bracebridge Heath, Branston, Washingborough, Cherry Willingham, Nettleham, Welton, Dunholme, Saxilby, Skellingthorpe and the Cliff villages. Gainsborough and Grantham are covered on our areas page.

Lincoln housing and the leaks that go with it

Lincoln divides in two for a leak detection engineer. Uphill, the historic core is stone and brick, much of it listed or in the conservation area, with deep solid floors, thick walls and plumbing that has been extended and re-routed for two centuries without anyone keeping a drawing. Lead supply pipes are still common, and the limestone of the Lincoln Edge beneath these houses drains so freely that a leak can run for a long time before anything shows. Getting a leak investigation wrong here is expensive: floors and finishes cannot be lifted on suspicion, so the leak has to be proven and pinpointed before anything is disturbed.

Downhill is the Witham valley, on clay and alluvium, flat and naturally damp. The Victorian terraces of the West End, Sincil Bank and Monks Road carry long, shared and much-altered supply runs, and a good many are now student lets and houses in multiple occupation, which means the leak is reported by an agent rather than the occupier. The Ermine estate and St Giles were built as council housing between the 1930s and 1950s with solid floors and buried heating pipes, and Birchwood followed in the 1960s and 1970s on the old RAF Skellingthorpe airfield. On the growing estates at Doddington Park, North Hykeham, Bracebridge Heath and Welton the pattern is plastic barrier pipe under screed, push-fit joints and, increasingly, underfloor heating.

Anglian Water and the supply pipe

Anglian Water supplies Lincoln. Its responsibility ends at the boundary stop tap; the private supply pipe from there to the house, and every pipe inside, belongs to the owner, and that is where most of the leaks we find in Lincoln sit. Lincolnshire water is hard, and old gate valves and stop taps uphill are often seized with scale, which we work around when isolating sections. Anglian Water may apply a leak allowance to a metered bill once a private leak has been repaired and has offered help with a first supply pipe repair under its own conditions; check the current position with them and keep our report as evidence.

Period property, listed buildings and insurance

In a listed or period building the reinstatement is usually the expensive part of a claim, which makes the location evidence more important, not less. Our report sets out the methods, the readings, the thermal images and the marked location so that a loss adjuster can see why one flagstone needs lifting rather than a whole floor. The trace and access page explains the cover; the insurance claims guide walks through the process.

Which methods suit Lincoln properties

  • Electronic pipe tracing before anything else in the uphill houses, because the pipe rarely runs where anyone thinks it does.
  • Acoustic detection on the lead and steel supplies of the terraces and the period core, including through stone flags and cellar floors.
  • Tracer gas for plastic pipe on the newer estates and for long garden supplies in the villages.
  • Thermal imaging for heating circuits in the solid floors of the Ermine and Birchwood houses and for underfloor heating loops.

Questions from Lincoln customers

Yes. Every method we use is non-invasive: pressure testing, pipe tracing, thermal imaging, acoustics and tracer gas leave the fabric untouched. Nothing is opened until two methods agree on the location, and the report justifies that one opening to your insurer and, if needed, the conservation officer.

Yes. We arrange access with the tenants directly, survey around their timetable where we can, and address the report to the agent or landlord for the file and the claim.

Anglian Water looks after the main and the pipe up to the boundary stop tap. The pipe from the stop tap to the house is yours, as is everything inside. If our survey puts the leak on their side we tell you, and you report it to them rather than paying for a repair.

Yes. North Hykeham, Waddington, Bracebridge Heath, Branston, Washingborough, Nettleham, Welton, Saxilby, Skellingthorpe and the villages along the Cliff are all covered at a fixed price, and we go further for insurance and commercial work by arrangement.

Leak detection services in Lincoln

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Need a leak found in Lincoln?

Fixed-price surveys, insurer-ready reports, and honest advice on the phone before anything is booked.

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