united utilities have given me 10 days to fix a leak I can't find!

binkyboo_2

not sure if anyone will be able to advise on this but I'm hoping someone will be able to!

my next door neighbour called united utilities as he had 8 inches of fresh water under his floor. his house is at the lowest end of a terrace of 4 houses. UU confirmed he had no leaks on his property and then investigated our and decided we have a leak inside our property which he has given us 10 days to fix.

We looked under our floor today and we also have 8 inches of water the water is still and we cannot find a leak anywhere. We did however find rotting floor joists caused by water damage, which suggests this has been going on a while.

our plan of action is to get our water switched off at the road for 2 days, pump the water from under my neighbours house the first day which should then cause the water under our house to flow under his. We will then pump it out again the following day and reassess.

If we have a leak then both houses should remain dry until we turn the water back on at which point the leak will become apparent. Or we may see water flowing from the house on the opposite side to us in which case the problem is with them.

Does this seem like a sensible plan and does anyone have anything to add?

Browntoa

sounds like a plan but suspect they are right, they can normally hear the leaks



http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/11246.htm

binkyboo_2

they could hear it you're right but we can't find it the water is totally still I assumed if there was a pipe leaking it would be like holding a running hose pipe under water and you can see a ripple?

anotherbaldrick

Sounds more like a ground water problem to me. Perhaps a spring that has issued due to the winter rain.
What is your location and nature of the ground ? If it is a water leak you would hear it by putting a big screwdriver,point on the incoming pipe near stopcock and butt end to your ear. try it by turning kitchen tap on and listening and check if their is still noise when you turn it off.

dave82_2

Sorry to hear about your problem.

You might have an issue shutting the stopcock off in the street. It might not only serve your house.

Our street level one serves 3 houses! It also didn't work till the water board replaced it which took months.

binkyboo_2

My next door neighbour who first discovered the water said it has been under his house for at least 4 years and he said it has got worse over this timeframe to now. We can hear a noise but it seems to be intermittent for example we could hear it then we turned our outside tap on and off and when we came back inside the noise had stopped! When we can here the noise it is heard under the stairs where the stop tap is and in the corner of our kitchen where our sink is. Apparently our neighbour can also hear noise in their house where our sink is.
I'm very confused but really want to get more of an idea of what is going on by investigating as much as we can ourselves before paying for a plumber. we have already ripped the floor up under the stairs and under the sink and found no leaks just still water which has obviously been there a while as it has rotted the joist.

keystone

I'd check the house uphill from you first. If they've got it its not your problem - saves all that pumping out exercise as an initial expense.

Another, parallel, approach is, if you have a water meter and you are using quite a bit of water when eveything is off then thats a good indication.

You might also check your deeds as you may have a "right of drainage" over his land and if it is surface water rather than a leak from your property then you can, politely of course, invite him elsewhere.

Cheers.

Canucklehead

Hi,

Fill a glass with water.

Turn off the water at the pavement stop !!!!.

Put the glass of water under the kitchen tap spout with the spout in the water.

Turn on the cold tap.

What happens?


GSR.

binkyboo_2

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi,

Fill a glass with water.

Turn off the water at the pavement stop !!!!.

Put the glass of water under the kitchen tap spout with the spout in the water.

Turn on the cold tap.

What happens?


GSR.

I can't try this at the moment but i will try and do it tomorrow. What would you expect the outcome to be?

keystone

binkyboo wrote: »

I can't try this at the moment but i will try and do it tomorrow. What would you expect the outcome to be?

Syphonage if you have a leak - nothing if you don't. At least thats what I'd expect.

Cheers

binkyboo_2

keystone wrote: »

Syphonage if you have a leak - nothing if you don't. At least thats what I'd expect.

Cheers

Brilliant, now i know what i am looking for will do this in the morning before we start pumping out. Thanks everyone for the replies so far.