Questions, answered properly

Anything actively causing damage or leaving you without essentials. Burst pipes, water coming through a ceiling, an active leak you cannot isolate, no heating or hot water in cold weather, and any smell of gas. If you are unsure, call and we will tell you honestly whether it can wait until tomorrow.

Turn off the water at the main stopcock, usually under the kitchen sink or near the front door, by turning it clockwise. Open your cold taps to drain the pipes. If water is near anything electrical, switch off at the consumer unit. If you smell gas, do not touch any switches, leave the property and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 first.

We are open seven days a week, including Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 3pm, and weekend work is charged at the same rates as weekdays. Emergency call-outs are quoted per job and you always get the figure before we start.

It depends on where you are and what is already booked. Crawley, Horsham, Horley, Copthorne and East Grinstead are closest to base and get the fastest response. Call us and we will give you a straight answer on timing rather than a vague promise.

Leave the property immediately. Do not switch anything on or off, including lights, and do not use your phone inside. Once outside, call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. They will make the supply safe. Call us afterwards on 07960 066300 and we will handle the repair and recommissioning as Gas Safe registered engineers.

Pressure that drops repeatedly means water is escaping somewhere. The three usual causes are a leak on the system pipework or a radiator valve, a failed expansion vessel inside the boiler, or a passing pressure relief valve discharging outside. Topping it up is a temporary measure, not a fix. We trace the actual cause.

The honest rule of thumb is that if the boiler is over 12 to 15 years old, the repair is a significant fraction of a new install, and parts are getting hard to source, replacement usually makes better financial sense. Under that, repair almost always wins. We will give you both numbers rather than steering you toward the bigger job.

Codes are manufacturer specific. As common examples, a Vaillant F.75 points to a pump or pressure sensor fault, a Worcester EA is a flame detection failure often caused by ignition or gas supply, and a Vaillant F.28 is a failed ignition. The code narrows the search but it is not a diagnosis on its own. We test the actual component rather than replacing parts based on the code.

We work on all the major brands including Worcester Bosch, Vaillant, Ideal, Baxi, Glow-worm, Potterton and Viessmann. We also work on older conventional boilers that a lot of firms will not touch, including back boilers and floor-standing units.

Banging or kettling is usually limescale and magnetite sludge on the heat exchanger causing water to boil locally and flash to steam. It is not immediately dangerous, but it is doing real damage. The thermal stress can crack the heat exchanger, which turns a cleanable problem into a new boiler. Get it looked at rather than living with it.

A typical full bathroom is one to two weeks depending on the amount of tiling, whether walls are being moved and how much making good is needed. We give you a schedule up front and tell you which days you will be without the room.

Either works. Plenty of customers buy their own suite and tiles and have us fit them, which gives you full control of the look. We can also supply everything. If you are buying your own, send us the spec before you order and we will flag anything that will not work with your water pressure or pipework.

This is the single most common bathroom mistake. A low-pressure gravity-fed system will not run a high-flow rain head without a pump, and mains-pressure combi systems have their own flow limits. We check your actual pressure and flow rate before you commit to a shower, not after it is installed and disappointing.

Usually yes, though soil pipe runs need enough fall to drain properly, so there are physical limits. We will tell you at survey what is straightforward, what needs a macerator and what is genuinely not possible.

Every 12 months for any property you rent out. You must give a copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the check and to new tenants at the start of the tenancy. You can have the check done up to two months before expiry without losing the original renewal date.

It is a criminal offence under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, carrying unlimited fines and potential imprisonment. It can also invalidate your landlord insurance.

No, it is a legal requirement only for rented property. That said, the same checks are what keeps a gas appliance safe, and an annual service on your own home covers the same ground.

You are still legally responsible for making reasonable attempts. Keep written records of every attempt. We help by contacting tenants directly and offering evening and weekend slots, which resolves most access problems without escalation.

Run the water meter test. Turn off every tap and appliance, note the meter reading, use no water for two hours, then read it again. If it has moved, water is going somewhere. Other signs are damp or discoloured patches on walls, ceilings or floors, a musty smell, unexplained increases in your water bill, warm patches on a floor above heating pipes, and boiler pressure that keeps dropping.

Not to find it. The point of detection equipment is to narrow the location down to a small area before anything is opened up. We then only need to access that specific spot rather than exploring hopefully across a room.

Most buildings policies cover the damage caused by an escape of water, and many include trace and access cover which pays for finding it. Policies vary, so check yours. We provide a written report with photographs that is suitable for submitting with a claim.

Yes. The constraint is usually floor height, since a traditional screed system adds meaningful depth. Low-profile overlay systems add far less and are designed exactly for retrofit. On suspended timber floors the pipework can often go between the joists from below.

It is generally cheaper to run than radiators because it works at a much lower flow temperature over a much larger surface area. Paired with a heat pump it is the most efficient combination available. Paired with a badly controlled boiler it can be wasteful, so the controls matter.

Yes, regularly. We take overflow and dispatch work from other plumbing and emergency firms across the region, including gas work where the contracting company is not Gas Safe registered. We work under your name, we do not solicit your customer and we invoice you directly.

Yes. We manage scheduling and tenant access directly, track certificate expiry dates and prompt you before renewals fall due. Certificates go to you and your agent the same day. For volume we work to an agreed schedule of rates.

For agents, facilities companies and trade accounts with regular volume, yes. Speak to us about setting one up.