Under-floor and slab leak detection for shop floors
Cold feeds, hot-water runs and heating loops all live in the screed under a shop floor. When one fails, the floor is the most expensive thing in the way. We locate the leak from above so the only tile that comes up is the one over the pipe.
The shop floor is the surface a retailer has spent the most on and can least afford to lose. Porcelain tiles, polished concrete, engineered timber and welded vinyl all sit on a screed with pipes running through it. A leak in that screed spreads sideways under the finish, lifts tiles a long way from the source and shows up as a damp line, a hollow sound or a smell before any water appears.
Our engineers map the pipework below the floor and locate the leak using thermal imaging, tracer gas and acoustic listening from the surface. A pressure test first tells us which system is leaking, so we scan the right pipes. Once the leak is marked, the opening-up is a single tile or a small core rather than a channel across the sales floor.
Signs you have one
- Tiles lifting, rocking or sounding hollow in a line across the floor
- A dark patch on polished concrete or vinyl that dries out and comes back
- Warm floor where there is no underfloor heating, or a cold spot on a heated floor
- Skirtings, plinths and display bases swelling or staining at the bottom
- Boiler pressure dropping with no visible leak on the radiators or plant
- The water meter turning with everything switched off
- A musty smell from the floor after the shop has been closed overnight
- Damp climbing a stud wall from the floor with no pipe in the wall itself
What we do
Identify the circuit
Pressure tests on the cold feed, hot water and heating circuits tell us which one is losing water, so the survey concentrates on the right pipe run.
Map the pipes
Thermal imaging with the hot systems running shows the pipe routes through the screed, giving us the line to follow even where there are no drawings.
Locate the break
Tracer gas on the leaking circuit rises through the screed to a detector at the surface. Acoustic listening backs it up on pressurised cold feeds.
Open one spot
The leak is marked with tape and photographed. Where the repair is a straightforward pipe section, we aim to lift the single tile or core the slab and complete it the same day.
Retail considerations
Matching the finish
Lifting one tile or one plank is easier to make good than a channel across the floor. Where the retailer kept spare tiles from the fit-out, one is usually all that is needed.
Scan while you trade
Most of the survey is quiet, hand-held work, so we can scan while the shop trades. The tracer-gas stage needs the system drained, and we tell you beforehand when that will be.
Shopfit warranties and insurers
The report records the pipe route, the defect and the opening-up, which supports both an insurance claim and a conversation with the shopfitter if the pipework is recent.
Questions
Will you have to take up the whole floor?
No. The survey is done from the surface and the floor is only opened at the marked spot, normally one tile or a small core. That is the whole point of locating before lifting.
How do you find pipes with no drawings?
Thermal imaging shows the routes of hot pipes through the screed once the systems are running. Cold feeds are traced from their fittings with tracer gas and acoustic listening. Drawings help, but most retail units do not have accurate ones and we plan for that.
The floor is polished concrete. Does that change anything?
It changes the repair, not the survey. Thermal, acoustic and tracer-gas methods all work through concrete. Where the leak is confirmed we core the slab at the marked point rather than breaking out an area.
Could the damp be coming up from the ground rather than a pipe?
It could, particularly in older high-street buildings without a membrane. A pressure test and moisture mapping separate a pipe leak from rising damp or a failed damp-proof course. If it is not a leak, you will be told, and the damp and structural survey covers what happens next.
We have underfloor heating in the changing rooms. Is that covered?
It is covered by the survey, which finds leaks on underfloor heating loops routinely.
Other services.
Most engineers arrive with the full kit, so if the leak turns out to be a different kind, the survey carries on.
Water mains & underground
Supply pipes under car parks, service yards and slab floors. The usual suspect behind a water bill that has quietly doubled.
See the serviceHeating & pipework
Commercial central heating and underfloor systems losing pressure. Tracer gas and thermal imaging find the break with the floor still in place.
See the serviceRoof & ceiling leaks
Flat roofs, rooflights, box gutters and drips from the unit above. We trace the water back to where it gets in, which is rarely where it shows up.
See the serviceWashrooms & staff areas
Customer toilets, staff kitchens and cleaners’ cupboards. Small rooms with a lot of pipework, and the source of most damp patches next door.
See the serviceDrains & CCTV surveys
Blocked, cracked or leaking drains in service yards and beneath units, surveyed with CCTV drain cameras and pressure testing.
See the serviceDamp & structural ingress
Penetrating damp, basement stock rooms and party walls. Moisture mapping shows what is a leak and what is condensation.
See the serviceWhere this comes up.
Car showrooms
Big slab floors, valet bays and glass frontages that show every damp patch.
View sectorHigh-street shops
Older buildings, shared walls and fit-outs that hide the pipework.
View sectorSupermarkets & grocery
Chillers, condensate lines and busy back-of-house plumbing on a floor that never really closes.
View sectorSpeak to the team about your leak.
One call gets a leak engineer moving. Our methods are non-invasive, so there is usually nothing to dig up, and you get a written report ready for your insurer.
Engineers across England, Scotland and Wales. £5 million public liability insurance.