- Home
- Case studies
- Detached house: up to 150 litres an hour leaking under the kitchen
Leak under a kitchen screed floor losing up to 150 litres an hour
Salts were pushing through the screed and the driveway paving had collapsed. Isolation testing found the kitchen supply, and four detection methods agreed on one spot at the kitchen doorway.
What was happening
Water had stained the skirting boards and door surrounds and darkened the tile grout. Salts were pushing up through the screed in the underfloor heating manifold cupboard. Outside, a section of block paving just inside the gate had collapsed and the grass verge was waterlogged. A meter test put the leak at between 80 and 150 litres an hour.
What the engineer did
Isolating the circuits one at a time ruled out the underfloor heating and traced the loss to the water softener bypass supply feeding the kitchen. Thermal imaging, acoustic correlation, moisture readings and tracer gas were then used in turn over that run, and all four pointed to the threshold between the kitchen and the back hall.
What was found
When the tiles and screed were lifted at that spot, a damaged section of 15 mm copper pipe was leaking. The buried pipes around it were discoloured, which suggested the leak had been running for some time.
What happened next
ADI replaced the damaged pipe and retested, with no further leak indicated. The engineer advised drying the floor as soon as possible to protect the remaining pipes in the screed, and keeping an eye on water use during drying and restoration.
If you own or build a new home
A leak this fast shows up outside as well as in, and the source can still be hard to see. Isolating each supply first shrinks the search to one pipe run, so the floor only has to be opened in one place.
More case studies
House under construction: an underfloor heating leak under new screed
A loop failed its pressure test after the screed was laid. Sound and gas both travelled along the pipes, so thermal imaging with warm water found the leak on the far side of the room.
Underfloor heating home: a hidden leak dripping through the brickwork
The meter crept every two minutes and water dripped through an outside wall. Pressure testing pointed to the hot supply, and acoustic listening led to a failed T-piece, replaced the same day.