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Call and talk it through
Charlie asks about the age of the building, the symptoms and whether the property is listed. Old fabric changes how he works, so knowing early matters.
Leak detection in Manningtree
Charlie finds leaks in listed cottages and estate houses alike, with cameras and microphones before any tool touches a wall.
No find, no fee
Next day visits most weeks
Report for trace and access
Tell us what you have noticed and where. We ring you back to talk it through. No find, no fee.
No find, no fee
24/7 enquiries
Non-invasive methods
Reports for insurance claims
The old town along the High Street and down to the quay is Georgian and earlier, with timber frames, lime plaster and pipework added in stages over a century. Lawford and Dale Hall are 1960s and later estates on solid floors. Mistley adds maltings conversions, where one leak can affect several flats.
Manningtree is in Tendring, on the Essex side of the Stour estuary, and is served by Essex and Suffolk Water. A visit is usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.
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Charlie asks about the age of the building, the symptoms and whether the property is listed. Old fabric changes how he works, so knowing early matters.
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Meter and heating checks first, then a thermal scan. In a timber framed cottage the camera shows where moisture sits in the plaster, often well away from the leak.
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Acoustic listening for pressurised pipes, tracer gas for heating loops. The leak is marked and photographed, and a plain written report follows for your builder or insurer.
Lime plaster and lath hold water differently from modern board, and the camera picks up the cooler, wetter areas. It also traces heating pipes through old floors without lifting one.
A leak on the supply pipe under a Mistley pavement or a Lawford drive makes a steady hiss. The ground microphone finds the loudest point, which sits over the break.
For a heating leak under a solid floor, a hydrogen and nitrogen mix is put into the drained system. It surfaces at the fault and the sensor finds it. The floor stays whole.
A listed timber framed house near the quay had a stain spreading across lime plaster upstairs. Opening the wall was not an option, so the thermal camera went over it first and showed a cold track running to an old heating pipe behind the plaster. Tracer gas confirmed the joint and one small panel was lifted, with the rest left untouched and noted in the report. In a converted maltings at Mistley water was coming into one flat from above, and the camera showed it was fed from the flat upstairs rather than a shared pipe. On the Lawford estates a 1960s house had a boiler losing pressure, traced to a heating pipe under the solid floor by the hall.
Mistley, Lawford, Bradfield, Wrabness, Little Bentley, Ardleigh and Dedham are all covered from Manningtree, as is Harwich further along the estuary. Tiptree and the villages south of the A12 are the same side of the county.
Trace and access cover pays for finding the leak and repairing what was disturbed to reach it. Our report sets out the method, includes the thermal images and photographs, and marks the leak on a plan. For a listed building it also notes what was and was not opened, which insurers ask about.
Yes. Everything we use is non-invasive. Thermal imaging and acoustic listening touch nothing, and tracer gas goes into the pipes, not the fabric. The leak is marked so your builder opens only the smallest area, which suits the conservation officer too.
Harwich, yes, it is 20 minutes further along the estuary and often shares a day with Manningtree. Tiptree is the other side of Colchester, so it is usually a separate trip, but leak detection in Tiptree is covered just the same.
Often the neighbour’s. In a converted maltings the pipework crosses between flats, and the thermal camera shows whether the wet area is fed from above or from your own walls. We can survey both flats in a single visit if asked.
Most domestic jobs take between one and three hours. An old town cottage with pipework added over decades is at the longer end, because there are more routes to check. We give you an estimate once we know the property.
Then he tells you so and there is no charge. No find, no fee applies. Older Manningtree houses do get ground moisture through solid walls, and the thermal pattern looks different from a pipe leak. You get a straight answer.
Call us on 07897 020 680 with the age of the property and what you have seen.
Landline 01440 840 772. Email hello@completeleakdetection.co.uk.