The first ten minutes of a leak

Most of the damage a leak does happens in the first ten minutes, before anyone arrives. Here is what to do while you are on the phone to us.

Turn off the water

Find the internal stopcock. In most houses it is under the kitchen sink, where the mains pipe comes up through the floor. Turn it clockwise until it stops. If it is stiff, do not force it with a wrench — you can snap the spindle. Tell us, and we will talk you through the alternatives.

If the leak is from a cold water tank in the loft, turning off the mains stops it refilling but it will empty through the leak. Open the cold taps in the bathroom to drain it the right way.

Deal with the electrics

Water and electrics share ceilings. If water is coming through a light fitting or near sockets, switch off that circuit at the consumer unit — or the main switch if you are not sure which. Do not touch switches with wet hands.

Catch and move

Put bowls and towels under the drip. If a ceiling is bulging, a small hole with a screwdriver in the lowest point, with a bucket beneath, lets the water out where you choose instead of bringing the plaster down.

Photograph it

Before you mop up, take photos of the water, the damage and — if you can see it — the pipe that failed. Insurers ask for them, and after a clean-up they are gone. We add our own photos and a short cause-of-damage report to every emergency job.

Then call

The phone is answered 24 hours by the engineer on call. Inside EG1–EG5 there is no call-out fee; you pay the first hour, agreed before we start. See the emergency prices.