How hard it is to find
A dripping joint under a sink needs no equipment. A slab leak or a line inside a finished ceiling takes real locating work.
Leak detection & pipe repair
Find it first, then open one hole instead of ten
The expensive part of a hidden leak usually isn't the plumbing. It's everything that gets taken apart looking for it. So we locate the leak properly before anything gets cut.
What the job actually involves
Finding it comes first, and it's a real process rather than an educated guess. We isolate sections of the system to work out which run is actually losing water, then narrow that down by what the meter does, where the damp appears, and how the plumbing is laid out. Most leaks give themselves away to somebody prepared to work through it methodically.
Between them we can usually narrow a leak down to a small area. That's what turns the repair into one clean access point instead of a series of holes working outward from a hunch.
Then the repair. Sometimes that's a single joint or a short section. Sometimes it's a whole run — and when we say that, we'll explain why rather than just quoting the bigger number. The usual reason is that the failure isn't isolated: whatever caused the first pinhole applies to every foot of pipe installed at the same time in the same conditions.
We repipe in copper or PEX. In a finished house PEX is often the cheaper answer, not because the material costs less but because it bends, which means less of your house has to come apart to route it.
Signs you need this
- A water bill that jumped with no explanationDo the meter test first: everything off, note the reading, wait thirty minutes, read again. If it moved, water is going somewhere.
- A stain on a ceiling or wallBy the time it shows on the surface it has been wet behind there for a while. The stain is always smaller than the wet area.
- A running sound with every tap closedQuiet house, faint hiss or trickle. That's pressurised water escaping somewhere it shouldn't be.
- A second pinhole leak in the same areaOne is bad luck. Two means the run is failing, and patching the third one is money spent twice.
- A warm patch on a basement or ground floorOften a hot water line leaking under the slab. Worth taking seriously — these get worse quietly.
Cost
What moves the price
Locating and repairing are two separate pieces of work, and the second one is where the range lives.
What's on top of it
Open joists in an unfinished basement are quick. Tiled shower walls, plaster, or a concrete slab are not.
Patch or replace the run
A single repair is cheap. Replacing a failing run costs more once and less overall than three separate patches.
Copper or PEX
Material cost is a small part of it. The real difference is how much of the house has to open up to route each one.
How much pipe
A single run behind one wall versus a whole-house repipe are different orders of job. We'll stage it if that suits you better.
Putting it back
Small patches we handle ourselves. Anything larger we bring in a company that does that work properly, rather than doing a rough job of it.
We show you where we intend to open before anything gets cut, and you approve the repair price before work starts.
Where we do this
Leaks and repiping across the areas we cover
Thornhill
Galvanized supply lines at the end of their life — low pressure, discoloured water, clustered failures.
Richmond Hill
The bill went up and nothing looks wet. The most common non-emergency call we get there.
Maple
Poly-B assessments — a straight answer on whether that grey pipe needs replacing or watching.
Questions
About leaks and pipe repair
How do you find a leak without opening the walls?
By isolating and eliminating. We shut sections of the system in turn to find which run is losing water, then narrow it further using the meter, where damp is appearing, and how the pipework is laid out. Done properly that gets close enough to open one clean access point rather than several.
What's a pinhole leak, and why do they come in clusters?
A tiny perforation in copper caused by corrosion working from the inside out. They matter because they are a symptom, not an accident. Whatever caused the first one applies to the whole run installed at the same time. Two in a year means a run that needs replacing, not a third patch.
Should I repipe in copper or PEX?
Both are good, and it depends on the house. PEX is flexible, so it routes through existing spaces with far less opening up — cheaper in a finished home and more resistant to freezing. Copper is rigid with a long track record. Where access is the main cost, PEX usually wins.
Is a slab leak serious?
Yes, and it is one of the few plumbing problems that gets worse quietly. A supply line leaking under a slab saturates the ground continuously. You might notice a warm patch, an unexplained running sound, or a bill that will not come down. It needs locating precisely rather than guessing.
How much of my wall has to come out?
As little as we can manage — that is the whole reason we locate before we cut. A well-located pinhole is often a single opening you could cover with a sheet of paper. Small patches we handle ourselves; where the opening needs proper finishing we bring in a company that specialises in it.
Stop guessing where the water's going
Call for anything urgent, or book online and we'll confirm a window.