Leak in concrete floor

[audievo]

Ok so have a water leak in a pipe in a concrete floor.
Insurance sent a guy out who said there was a loose connection on the stopcock.
Tightened it but not solved
Next guy says it is the water main, he can here it leaking and need a new water main £1000?????
Now if that's what's needed so be it but...... when I listened to the hissing noise I wondered if it was before or after the stopcock.
I have found that when I turn the water off at the stopcock the hissing stops.
Am I right in thinking this means the leak is not the main pipe before the stopcock but a pipe after the stopcock.
There is a pipe buried in the floor which feeds the sink at the other end of the kitchen.
It would be a lot easier to re route the pipe to the sink by cutting before it disappears into the floor then surface mounting new pipe and reconnecting where it emerges as all pipes could be hidden under kitchen units.
Any help welcomed cheers

 

[Dotty]

It would be a lot easier to re route the pipe to the sink by cutting before it disappears into the floor then surface mounting new pipe and reconnecting where it emerges as all pipes could be hidden under kitchen units.
Any help welcomed cheers

It's your house and if this is the permanent repair you feel is best for you then go for it.

 

[audievo]

It's your house and if this is the permanent repair you feel is best for you then go for it.

Sorry mustn't have explained properly
There are two pipes and I'm not sure which one is leaking.
The main pipe coming into the house
or
The pipe running under the floor to the kitchen tap.
they are quite close together in the same general area of the floor.

I can hear a hissing noise from under the kitchen unit which could be either of the pipes.
However when I turn off the stopcock the noise stops.
I am thinking that if it was the main pipe leading from outside then would it not still be leaking/hissing weather on or off?
whereas if it is the sink pipe then when I turn off the stopcock it would not leak as the supply would be stopped.
So if the pipe coming into the house were leaking before the stopcock surely I would hear it leak weather the water was on or off.
thanks

 

[MarkAqua]

you've answered your own question. you turn the main water off and it stops.

 

[Simon F]

I had the same scenario this last week.
water leak under a kitchen floor.
heating was holding pressure- not that.
Isolate hot water at combi, still hear the hissing.
Isolate cold stop tap, hissing stops water meter stops moving.
diagnosis - leak on cold pipe.

didnt want to dig the floor to try and repair because there was evidence of corrosion on most pipes coming up from floor, some radiator pipes rerouted presumably when going pressurised.
cold, hot and heating pipes all running in same space, so I decided to just reroute the cold to avoid disturbing anything.
get that done, turn water back on - hissing noise still there!
proper fed up now, decided to dig the floor up in the end.
2 leaks, hot and cold were so tight together they had rubbed through and were both leaking!
pipes everywhere, managed after a lot of struggling to to cut out the redundant cold pipe and replace a small section of the hot.
hopefully your problem is more straight forward, don't lose any sleep over it.:grin:

 

[SafeGasInstall]

Done simmilar job 2 weeks ago ! Customer had a one of them searching with sounds tracing to confirm leak as they could afford it !
I ended up with 2 visits and re run pipe in kitchen all the way behind kitchen units : total cost £820

 

[audievo]

Ok thanks for the replies
If it turns out to be the main pipe can this be repaired or does the whole pipe need changing from house to street.
I will try to re route the pipe I'm hoping it is.
Also, are these leak detection companies any good and what do they charge?

 

[SafeGasInstall]

Leak detecting company that was used all they did is confirmed what I did diagnose already ! customer was rich and did one seconded opinion ! In my eyes was waist of money . Don't know how much they charge but I am sure it will be more then £400 as they send engineer that is booked for a day on that job !
It depend on lay out of the house , I will suggest to renew only the part where is the concreted floor ! Good luck

 

[WHPES]

If any of the supply pipework is lead, now would be an ideal opportunity to replace it.

 

[chris watkins]

The long & sort is, follow the Water Regs don't install pipework that will not be accessible in the future !!
It is there to save all this heartache.

 

[Best]

I had one like that where water was below vinyl floor covering in a kitchen screed floor.
Had no idea where the leak was, but while at the job there was suddenly a very large bang - like a firework going off in the dining room to the side if the kitchen. I waited until it eventually reoccurred & I noticed smoke coming from a point below the skirting board at the carpet. I turned electric supply off.
Long story short, electrician was called & between us we dug part of screed up to find warm water. Turned out the previous owner was a builder & had the mains & hot pipes in kitchen put in light gauge 15mm (Yorkshire thin wall) which was wrapped in hairfelt lagging & fitted BELOW the damp membrane! Pipes were impossible to repair temporary as they just cracked if a compression fitting was tightened.
i used Hepworth pipes (one of the rare times I have) to below units to sink to sort it but the electrician discovered all the wires to the kitchen (for sockets, cooker etc) had been pushed bare through a single hole in the lower wall where the bang kept happening. He found a 2.5 mm t&e cable for sockets with no plastic covering whatsoever for about 6" exactly in the single wall to the dining room - just bare copper all frazzled as if it had been in a fire.

 

[Nishikigoi]

I see your point, but the leak is often only the tip of the iceberg!

I do leak detection and yes there are times it's stupid to spend money on it (we're always asking clients if it's simpler or cheaper to re-route). The crappy companies will turn up with a thermal image camera and/or cheap acoustic or gas equipment.

We charge £395 plus the dreaded Vodka and Tonic, but not all companies are equal and clients are not always rich, but the fee gets refunded by buildings insurance, who require a BDMA report to properly deal with claims.

We use pretty much the best kit money can buy, decent Thermal Image cameras, digital acoustic equipment and trace gas with the best kit (not the rubbish converted sewer gas detectors with the gas detector as a stick with holes in), then there is the chemistry set for water and deposit analysis, correlators, bore-scopes and a load more.

Even though the leak is obvious, most major leaks end up as an insurance claim and this needs careful consideration as your into the 'trace & access' portion and then 'escape of water'. Get a report wrong and the client is up a creek without a paddle.

To do 'proper' leak detection takes a whole load of kit and training, then you need to look at BDMA membership (damage control) CILA (Loss adjuster) and getting towards a RICS accreditation as a surveyor.

There are a whole heap of companies out there who just treat insurance and their customers as cash cows, we don't and are the only company to operate as 'no-find no-fee' and then we advertise that we would rather people use a local plumber for works as I hate 'poaching' a customer we are 100 miles away from when they have a simple job, use or find a local plumber!

Leak detecting company that was used all they did is confirmed what I did diagnose already ! customer was rich and did one seconded opinion ! In my eyes was waist of money . Don't know how much they charge but I am sure it will be more then £400 as they send engineer that is booked for a day on that job !
It depend on lay out of the house , I will suggest to renew only the part where is the concreted floor ! Good luck