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Investigating A Hidden Leak

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I am after some advice on what is probably a hidden water leak in my house.

There has been a damp musty smell for months (the house has little in it)
It has a water meter ( shows litres) so I checked it before going away for a few days, it hadn't moved when I got back, so no apparent leak on the inbound side.
 
Next, as I have an electric shower and can do basic plumbing, I put in a lever valve from the hot water tank, to take the hot water pipes out of it.

There was a 20% decrease in the smell.

 

I also took up a couple of the floorboards to check if the was any damp in the void but it seems fine.

 

So I reckon it must be in the waste piping or the central heating pipes. Any recommends or tips? Is my option now to get a plumber to troubleshoot it?

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Is the house lived in ,?  Do you have the Central Heating on ? If not lived in and a minimum of heating it could be cold and damp.

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Damp musty smell and no apparent water leak? Sounds like you need to talk to Envirovent, which sorted our similar-sounding problem...

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Thanks for the replies. Yep, it is lived in with heating but there is little in the way of carpets and so on that might be a cause  (replaced with laminate flooring).

 

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Try a dehumidifier if there’s no apparent leaks it could be that simple. Decent ones at screwfix.

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You aint never going to get  a warm comfortouble house with laminate  horrible stuff / 

Wait till weather changes see if it gets any better .   Condensation makes house smell with laminate floors

. . Doubt its wastes pipes or a leak as it would show check toilet area for leaks  /is it a back to wall toilet

 

Edited by spider1

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I had  similar issues at my brick industrial unit, I found using a cheap damp meter very helpful in narrowing the area it came from, turned out to be failed damp course in a small section of an out side wall that was obscured by some shelving.

 

 

 

 

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On 02/03/2020 at 13:01, ChrisIB said:

 

So I reckon it must be in the waste piping or the central heating pipes. Any recommends or tips? Is my option now to get a plumber to troubleshoot it?

 

If it's leaking out the central heating pipes you'd notice a drop in the boiler pressure (unless it's an older open-vent system)

On those you can usually close a valve to stop the flow into the header tank, then you just watch that and see if the level drops.

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Thanks for the suggestions. Yep, have checked the toilet, gutters were done couple of months ago and have a dehumidifier (which helps but just in single room).

Will try the header tank cut off, and if that is ok the damp meter.

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