Gas Safe Registered · £5m Insured · On Call 24/7 · Covering Glasgow and Surrounding

Leak Detection in Glasgow

A damp patch spreading across a ceiling, or a water bill that's crept up for no obvious reason, usually means water escaping somewhere you can't see. Mo and Kyle locate it with acoustic and thermal equipment first, so the only thing that gets opened up is the bit that actually needs fixing.

  • Gas Safe
    Registered
  • £5m
    Insured
  • 25+ Years
    Trading
  • 250+
    5★ Reviews
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What Happens When You Call

1

Meter test and questions first

Before any equipment comes out, we confirm water is genuinely escaping and ask what you've noticed and when. A leak that appears only when the heating runs points somewhere very different to one that's constant.

2

Non-destructive detection

Acoustic listening and thermal imaging to narrow it down, tracer gas where those can't reach. Nothing gets cut, lifted or opened during this stage.

3

Pinpoint and explain

We show you where it is and what's causing it before proposing anything. You get a written report either way, which matters if an insurer is involved.

4

Repair, priced separately

Most repairs happen on the same visit once you've agreed the price. Where access genuinely needs a builder or a factor's sign-off, we tell you plainly rather than starting something we can't finish.

What's Covered

Here's what leak detectionfrom Mo's team includes.

  • Acoustic listening equipment for pressurised pipe leaks
  • Thermal imaging to trace leaks under floors and behind walls
  • Tracer gas where acoustic and thermal can't reach
  • Meter test to confirm whether water is genuinely escaping
  • Exact location pinpointed before anything is cut
  • Written report of what we found and where

Clear price before we start, non-destructive methods first, written report of exactly what we found.

Why Leaks Are Harder to Trace in Glasgow Properties

Tenement flats are the hardest and most common leak detection job in the city, because a single building shares supply and drainage between flats and water travels down through floors before it appears on anyone's ceiling. A damp patch in a second-floor flat regularly originates two storeys above. Working out whose leak it actually is comes before working out how to fix it, and that ambiguity is exactly why a written report matters here more than anywhere else.

Older properties across the West End, Southside and Partick still have significant runs of original iron and early copper pipework buried in walls and under floors, some of it altered piecemeal over a century. Original pipework fails at joints rather than mid-run, which is useful to know when narrowing down where to listen.

Post-war semis and estate housing out towards Knightswood, Cumbernauld and East Kilbride more often have solid or screeded ground floors, which is where tracer gas earns its place. Acoustic detection struggles through concrete and the cost of breaking into the wrong section is high enough to justify doing it properly first.

Newer flats and conversions across the city centre, Finnieston and Tradeston typically have plastic pipework in accessible service voids, which is the easiest scenario we deal with. Leaks here are less common and quicker to locate, and we'll say so upfront rather than quoting for equipment the job doesn't need.

Who You'll Get

Mo and Kyle handle most leak detection work, and it's the job where Mo's diagnose-before-you-touch-anything habit matters most obviously. The temptation on a damp ceiling is always to open the nearest bit and look, and 25 years of Glasgow tenements has taught him how often the water started somewhere else entirely. Kyle covers the drainage side, which matters more than people expect, since a fair number of calls that come in as a water leak turn out to be a drainage or waste-pipe problem instead, and knowing the difference early saves opening up the wrong thing.

What Else Often Comes Up

A hidden leak rarely stays a plumbing problem for long. Water that's been escaping for weeks will have reached flooring, plaster or a ceiling below, so part of most detection jobs is being honest about what damage has already happened rather than just finding the pipe. A boiler that keeps losing pressure is very often a heating system leak rather than a boiler fault, which is worth mentioning when you call since it changes where we start looking. And in a tenement, a leak found in a common area or a shared supply usually needs raising with the factor rather than being a private repair, which we'll flag as soon as we know.

Pricing, In Plain Terms

We give you a clear price before any work starts. Detection is priced on the job rather than by the hour, so a straightforward trace doesn't cost the same as one that needs tracer gas under a solid floor. What genuinely moves the price is access and construction, a leak in an accessible under-sink run is quick, a leak under a screeded floor in a top-floor tenement flat with the water travelling two storeys before it shows is a longer job with more equipment involved. Where a repair follows on the same visit, we price that separately once we know exactly what's involved, so you're never quoted for a repair before anyone knows what's actually broken.

Detection First, or Just Start Opening Things Up?

The instinct when there's a damp patch is to open up the ceiling or lift the floor right under it and have a look, and occasionally that works. More often it doesn't, because water runs along joists, pipes and plasterboard and surfaces a long way from where it actually escaped. The cost of guessing wrong is not just the wasted work, it's the making good afterwards, which is usually the more expensive half. Detection first costs money you might feel you shouldn't need to spend, but it converts an open-ended repair into a defined one. The exception is a visible, active leak you can already see the source of, in which case skip detection and just call us to fix it, we'll say so honestly on the phone rather than selling you a trace you don't need.

Leak Detection, Areas We Cover Across Glasgow

Tenement flats to detached houses, we trace leaks across Glasgow and well beyond. Find your area:

113 areas · 50-mile radius from Glasgow

Don't see your area? Call 07988 591331, we likely still cover you.

Leak Detection Questions

Usually not. Acoustic and thermal equipment locates the majority of leaks without lifting anything, which is the whole point of doing detection properly first. Where a floor does need opening, we know exactly which section rather than working along it hopefully.

What Locals Say About Mo

250+ five-star reviews across Google, Trustpilot and Facebook, from real Glasgow customers.

Rated 5★ on Google, read them all

Communication was excellent from my 1st contact with Moe to the completion of the work. This included follow-up messages…

Christine M. · Glasgow

Google review

Our radiator pipe was bent and leaking. They answered straight away… Guy was here an hour later and he was wearing ID, very professional, patient and kind. We just got a new carpet in this room and he done an amazing job on getting little to no water on it. Couldn't recommend enough, price was reasonable.

Kayleigh A. · Glasgow

Google review

We lost heating just in time for the coldest day of the year with a baby in the house… When I contacted them they were ready to dispatch that night. Fixed by the afternoon. Quoted that morning and no extra charges were added. Honestly cannot thank them enough.

Jemma M. · Glasgow

Google review

As a small business owner, I needed a drainage company that could respond quickly. The team attended first thing in the morning, cleared the blocked drain and carried out a full CCTV survey. All documentation emailed across promptly. Professional, efficient and great value for money.

Eric V. · Glasgow

Google review

Damp Patch Or A Bill That's Crept Up? Let's Find It.

07988 591331

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