Hidden Leak Detection
Acoustic and thermal scanning to find slab and wall leaks before anyone picks up a chisel — protecting your tiles, your slab and your neighbour's ceiling.
If you know there is a leak somewhere but you do not know where, the worst possible answer is to start opening walls and hoping. Apart from being ruinously expensive, exploratory demolition usually misses the actual leak — water travels along the path of least resistance, not in a straight line, and it surfaces metres away from the source.
What we use
Two main instruments and a lot of patience:
- Acoustic correlator with ground microphone. A pressurised pinhole leak produces a high-frequency hiss. The microphone picks it up through tile and plaster, and the correlator software triangulates the loudest point along the pipe run.
- Thermal imaging camera. Hot water leaks produce a heat plume that bleeds through the surface. On a cool morning the plume is unmistakable in the infrared view.
For larger commercial leaks we also use tracer gas and pipe locators, but for residential work the acoustic and thermal toolkit catches the overwhelming majority.
How a leak detection visit unfolds
- You walk the technician through the symptoms — damp patches, meter behaviour, bill history.
- We isolate the water supply and confirm whether the leak is on the hot or cold line, or in a drainage line.
- The acoustic survey runs along the suspected pipe path, marking pressure points with chalk.
- The thermal camera confirms the hot spot or rules out hot-line involvement.
- You receive a marked-up plan with the exact location, plus an opening recommendation.
What you leave with
- A written diagnostic report with photos and a marked floor plan
- A recommended access cut — usually 10 to 20 cm rather than 2 metres
- A fixed quote for the actual repair, if you want us to do it
- An honest opinion on whether the leak is worth chasing now or monitoring
When detection is not the right next step
If the leak is on an obvious, accessible line — under-sink, behind a vanity, on an exposed riser — there is no need to deploy detection equipment. We will tell you on the phone and book a normal repair visit instead. We would rather lose a detection booking than charge for instrumentation that the job does not need.
Pricing
Detection visits are fixed-price for residential properties up to 1,500 sq ft and run between 90 and 150 minutes. Larger homes are quoted per zone. The fee is credited against the repair price if you book the repair with us within seven days of the detection report.