replacement water pipe?

lorny80

we have had a leak in the kitchen, a plumber has been out and said he thinks that there is a leak in the mains water pipe which he thinks needs to be replaced. from outside the house, at the mains point, to the stopcock in the house.
does anyone have any idea on the cost of this kind of work?
thanks.

ian103

diy its cheap - relatively simple to use pipe and fitting, no special tools required - its just hard work digging the trench and breaking a route into the house.

lorny80

ok.
but it might be covered by my home cover plan. but only if the cost is under £1500 to be done. so im trying to find out the cost to see if it will be covered.

southcoastrgi

Are your floors solid from the stop tap to outside ie the route of the existing pipe or do you have floor boards that could be taken up to run the new pipe ? If you have floor boards could the leak not be repaired even if it means cutting a section of pipe out ?

lorny80

floors are concrete, 1960s house.

ian103

the pipe and fittings are minimal cost - too hard to give you an idea of cost as too many variables - how far is it from your stop tap to the stop !!!! in the pavement, does the water pipe go under your drive etc, if so what is the surface etc. Is it they pay the whole cost if over £1500 or just the amount that exceeds £1500?

southcoastrgi

Is the plumber certain that it is the incoming mains that is leaking ? I would assume unless you say different that not only is your main in the floor but the hot, cold & heating pipes are too, if I were you I would contact your local water board & tell them your situation & ask them to send out an inspector with a sounding rod, if you turn off your main stoptap in the house so no water is flowing past that he can then sound the external stoptap to see if water is flowing ie that you do indeed have a leak on the incoming supply, they will do this foc & you never know it may save you money & loads of work & upheaval if it is another pipe that is leaking.

jcb208

I had similar replaced several years ago and it was not cheap as I used one of the water board reccomended contractors and was in a hurry ,from memory it was about £1000 but got it done on house insurance so only paid the excess.They just dug 2 holes and used a mole under the ground and was only here the morning.Im sure If I had to pay I would of dug it myself.Where it enters the house it will be in ducting so not really a hard job If you like digging 2ft deep trenches from stopcock to where it enters house

lorny80

thanks for all the replies.
the guy that came round said that he thinks that is the issue. but he cant be sure, and the pipe would need to be traced to see if there was any water escaping.
ive pulled all the flooring up, so now im back to bare concrete. if the guy is right there will be continual water coming up wont there? not masses, but im thinking if i find no evidence of any water rising for a few days then it cant be that?

southcoastrgi

Ok what you haven't said is why you think there is a leak, what is happening ?, I must admit I'm at abit of a loss to understand why you have ripped up all your flooring already when the plumber doesn't even know for sure what is leaking under the floor if anything, like I said get the water board to sound it before you do anything else, pipes in solid floors never used to be protected & so the concrete/screed will eat through them, but you need to identify what is leaking.

lorny80

ive pulled up the floor cause it was totally warped. the underlay was soaking, starting to smell etc. so water is getting to it somehow and it would need to be replaced regardless.