help - Friday night quick fix plumbing problem!!!!

[sacbina]

extension work due to start next Tuesday and at 5pm Friday night the incoming water pipe has started to leak. I say started but its been slowly leaking for the past few months, its now actually hissing with a small puddle forming.

is there some kind of putty I can apply which will give me a few days/weeks grace before everything gets demolished anyway?

any ideas?

find some plumbers mait. horrible stuff to get off your hands, but does work.

ah yes, that's what it's called, thank you

typical really, they were due to start last Monday. hopefully it can last a bit longer

that won't work.

Look for the stop cock, and turn it off so that water no longer comes out of the leak.

Have you got a water meter?

Where is the leaking pipe? Is it copper. lead or steel?

...or is the pipe plastic? Blue or black?

is it leaking from a split or hole, or from a joint? Is the joint plastic, copper or lead? What does it look like?

it is the pipe leading to the stop cock. and the last time I had th o turn it off, it felt like the whole thing would snap off if I turned a bit too much. if we are going away I turn it off at the meter.

the pipe is behind a kitchen cupboard so fairly inaccessible, the stop cock is accessed through the cupboard

only need it to last another week or so before the source is rerouted and wall is knocked down

anything else I can do??

most of the pipe is embedded in the wall and is lead

Unless you are fond of plumbing, you will probably do much better to call in a local plumber. Even if you are a DIY plumber, you will not be able to fix a lead pipe under pressure.

Turn it off at the meter.

Don't use Yellow Pages or a internet site if you can avoid it. Don't call a non-geographic phone no (0845, 0870, 0800 etc.) because it will be a non-local agency that will sell your call to the highest bidder. Look for a local landline number.