Leak Detection in St John's Wood and Maida Vale

St John's Wood and Maida Vale are mansion block country: red-brick Edwardian and 1930s blocks of six or eight storeys with stacked bathrooms, shared risers and heating pipes in the floor voids. Around them are stucco villas in Little Venice and St John's Wood, many divided into flats, and post-war estates at Lisson Grove and Maida Hill. In the blocks the usual problem is a bath or shower in one flat leaking into the ceiling of the one below, and the question of whether it is the fitting, the seal or the pipework.

We cover NW8 and W9, including St John's Wood, Maida Vale, Little Venice, Lisson Grove and Maida Hill. Most calls come from leaseholders, porters and managing agents with a ceiling stain below a bathroom. Dye tests on the bath, shower tray, basin and overflow in the flat above show which one is responsible, and moisture readings map how far the water has gone. Thermal imaging picks up a heating pipe in a floor void, and water test strips tell mains water from heating water when the source is not obvious.

Parking in St John's Wood and Maida Vale is permit controlled with pay by phone bays, and the blocks usually have a porter who needs to be told we are coming. The equipment comes in on a trolley and goes up in the lift. We work in one flat at a time and keep the time in each as short as the test allows. The written report with photographs, thermal images and readings is prepared for a trace and access claim and written so the managing agent can share it between the flats.