Urgent repairs
The biggest emergency you are likely to face is a water leak. There is nothing quite so upsetting as water dripping down through the ceiling, trickling through walls, or gushing up through the floor. The first step is to turn off the main interior stopcock, then decide whether to call a plumber like an Earls Court Plumber or to try and tackle it yourself. If you’re going to have a go yourself, you need to have an emergency repair kit at the ready. It should contain a selection of spanners, a hacksaw, a pipe cutter, a selection of compression joints, very short lengths of copper pipe in a range of diameters, half a dozen jubilee clips, and epoxy putty repair kit, a gas torch, a small pot of flux, a roll of lead solder, a pack of fine grade wire wool, a roll of PTFE tape, and a good torch.What to do in a catastrophic emergency.A catastrophic emergency is when there is a large water leak, and the volume of water such that it is likely to damage the building. Earls Court Plumbers can sort this problem.Burst pipe.It is a freezing cold winter’s night and you just come home from a party. The floor is awash and water is pouring down the kitchen wall.1). Go around the house flushing the toilet and turning on all the taps. While the core water taps running, fill up as many containers as possible so that you have enough water for washing, cooking and drinking.2). Go to the main stock up under the sink and turn it off.3). When the water has stopped running, use the torch and look inside the loft to find the burst pipe. Rub the area around a burst pipe with wire wool and make a temporary mend with epoxy putty, as per the instructions on the tin.4). Mop up the water.5). In the morning, either call a plumber, or roll up your sleeves and replace the section of pipe. If the leak was due to an aged plumbing system, consider upgrading the whole system. If the problem was caused by an icy draft, it is a good idea to go around the system and re-insulate all the pipework.