Most random question but is your stoptap / stopcock wet to touch?

[Fairylea]

Yep I know this is really about property but I want the traffic of chat.

We live in a 1950s house. Our stoptap is in our downstairs toilet which means we see it more than most people would so I don’t know if I’m just being paranoid.

We noticed it was wet to touch round the bottom of the tap where it joins the mains black pipe so we got someone out to replace it yesterday. The person that replaced it has recently redone our whole bathroom for us - which we love and have no issue with - so in theory it should be great.

I’ve just gone to use the toilet and noticed the pipe / tap is wet again...! Is it normal for it to be wet? Is this just condensation?

I don’t know whether I’m just being a bit daft or whether to contact the plumber again. I want to know what other people’s are like....

And yes I know it sounds like I have some sort of weird stopcock fetish.

I am just nervous about all this sort of stuff as we’ve had endless problems with our house and I want to get it sorted!!

Ours is dry!

Thanks for replying.... arghhh. So maybe ours still isn’t “right”.

Should be dry, maybe they didn't tighten it properly, you can get seal leak glue stuff as a temporary measure.

As a test, maybe what you could do is wrap a dry tea towel or strong kitchen towel around it and see what happens. If after a day it's barely damp, then it's condensation from cold water. If it's definitely wet, get a better plumber in to check it out as it could be they haven't used the right fittings..

Nothing worse than a wet stopcock.

Sorry, I think it should be dry

Yes should be dry. My plumber told me that they have to say "stoptap" now as a lady made an official complaint about the whole stopcock thing 😂😂😂

My stopcock is damp sometimes as is near my front door and the temp in the area changes ( sun on the door in the morning and gap under door means it can be bloody cold in the eve ) so it causes condensation .

Thank you all. I think I will try the kitchen towel thing and see what happens. I feel like all this stuff with the house has just made me absolutely neurotic.

Ha! Oh dear. I wasn’t sure what to call it really. Asking a bunch of randomers to feel their stopcock and see if it’s wet did feel a bit rude. But that probably says more about my mind than anything else...

Oh I hate all this DIY / house stuff. So much worry and stress!

Thanks for replies.