Everyday Plumbing Repairs, Done Properly and Priced Up Front

Water finds its way into places it should not, and it does it slowly. A tap that drips into the basin is a nuisance; a joint weeping into the cupboard underneath is quietly ruining the carcass, the floor and possibly the ceiling below. The cost of the fix rarely changes — the cost of what it damages does.

Most tap and toilet faults come down to a worn part rather than the whole fitting: a ceramic cartridge, a washer, a fill valve or a flush valve. Where the part is available the repair is straightforward and much cheaper than replacement. Where the fitting is old enough that parts are no longer made, you will be told that before anything is taken apart.

Wastes and traps block for predictable reasons — hair and soap in bathrooms, fat and food in kitchens. Clearing them is usually quick, but a waste that keeps blocking often points to a run with too little fall or a trap that was never right, and it is worth fixing the cause rather than clearing it every few months.

Radiators that are cold at the top need bleeding; cold at the bottom usually means sludge. Both are dealt with, along with valves that seize and radiators that need to come off the wall for decorating and go back on afterwards. Boilers, gas fires and anything on the gas side of the system are a registered engineer's job and are always referred on.