To turn off water and go on holiday? Some sort of leak...

[MrsBede]

Aargh - I thoguht Covid might fuck up holiday but not this...

I'm having downstairs loo redone and bathroom retiled. Off on holiday today as is the man doing it. He had finished the downstairs bit but today water seems to be seeping from the sink at floor level. He has removed tiles from bathroom ready to redo next week and I have just realised there's a slow drip from the bathroom through living room ceiling. There have been various problems up there since I lived here so that may not be all his fault and he's just disturbed something that's shit anyway...

I really want to go away.

If I turn off the water can this wait til I get back?!

go ahead if you want to come back to a collapsed ceiling...

Would you be able to enjoy yourself if you went or would you be worried the whole time about what damage you might come back to? Personally, I’d have to get it sorted before I went.

Ring him and ask him to get a friend round if he can’t come. If he’s any good he will have friends who are also builders and be able to call in a favour.

@purplesequins

go ahead if you want to come back to a collapsed ceiling...

But if you turn off the water, ie stop it coming in, it won't happen.

I'd turn of the water at the mains, then if you have tanks in the roof I'd run the bath taps till they go dry and then go on holiday.

Depends if the water is leaking from the back supply. If it's leaking from a tank then it won't stop until the tank is empty

If it's leaking from a bathroom tap then it's likely to be back supply

In theory it should be fine. Is there somebody who can keep popping in to check?

So I can see in the bathroom that a vertical pipe that is where the sink would normally be is dripping from the top. Not sure if that would be back supply? to be fair, the guy did say that something there needed to be replaced so I assume he could see it was faulty but didn't realise it would now start dripping. Can the back supply be turned off?

What kind of sink is it and are the taps mounted to the top of the sink or on the wall behind? Can you reach the underside of the taps/waste pipes? If so put your hand behind and have a feel and see if you can figure where the water is coming from. Common points for a leak to occur would be the tap connector hoses, or it could be as simple as one of the waste pipes getting knocked loose when removing the old tiles.

The taps should have their own isolation points relatively close, if the leak is after the valve you can just isolate the tap.

OK, is at a small copper pipe? One of two water pipes in the same place?

Picture would help to be certain but it sounds like you have a failed isolation valve that is allowing water to pass. I would pick up a push fit end cap and slap it over the end of the pipe. Job done and the plumber can fit a new isolation after your break.

Well, I've turned off the mains water under the kitchen sink and that seems to have stopped the dripping. You can see inside the pipe water right up to the top but it's not dripping over anymore and there's no drips on the ceiling now. Hot taps took ages to empty but they are now.

I'm now more worried about the seeping from the downstairs sink and I can't see a way to isolate that but I suppose I don't need to if all the water is off?

Turn the main stop cock off then drain the cold water from your pipes, turn off your boiler too otherwise if it came on automatically on timer it could boil dry

@HowToMurderYourLife

OK, is at a small copper pipe? One of two water pipes in the same place?

Picture would help to be certain but it sounds like you have a failed isolation valve that is allowing water to pass. I would pick up a push fit end cap and slap it over the end of the pipe. Job done and the plumber can fit a new isolation after your break.

Yes, the one upstairs is as you describe, thank you. That would have been easier than turning off the water but still have the downstairs one, which does now seem to have dried out after being wiped and the water now off. Maybe I'm good to go...

Thank you for all replies.

Didn’t realise it was happening in both bathrooms!

OK, can you feel behind the sink in the loo and tell where the water is coming from?

I'd switch the water off and drain it down

I think it's coming from the pipes pictured - they felt wet when the water was on.

Is it the metal water pipes? You should be fine with the mains water off. If it is from the plastic pipes you won’t get any more leaks if no more water is going in to them anyway.

Go and enjoy your holiday.