Leak Detection Wellington

In most of Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua there is no water meter on the house, so a leak will not show up as a bigger bill. It shows up as a damp skirting board, a musty smell under the floor, a cylinder that runs more than it should, or a patch of lawn that stays wet through a dry spell. By then it may have been running for months.

Our job is to find that leak precisely and quickly. We combine pressure testing, acoustic listening and thermal imaging, show you photos of what we found, and give you a fixed price to repair it, often on the same visit.

Pricing: quotes are free, and every job gets a fixed price before we start, so there are no surprises on the invoice.

Leak Detection Jobs We Handle Across Wellington

• Water leak detection
• Hidden leak under a slab or floor
• High meter reading investigation
• Leak under the house
• Thermal camera leak finding
• Pressure testing pipes

Signs you have a hidden leak

Without a meter reading to warn you, the clues are physical. Call us if you notice: If water is pouring out somewhere you can see, skip the search and book burst pipe repairs straight away.

• Damp or swelling skirting boards, or paint that bubbles and will not dry
• A musty smell from the subfloor or a cupboard with pipes in it
• Warm patches on a tiled or concrete floor, which can point to a hot water line
• The sound of running water when every tap and appliance is off
• A soggy strip of lawn, path or bank that never dries out
• On the Kāpiti Coast, a water bill higher than the same period last year

How we find leaks without guesswork

We start by proving there is a leak and narrowing down where. With all water off, we pressure test the supply and isolate the hot side, cold side, inside lines and outside lines one by one. On a metered Kāpiti property we also watch the meter. That alone often rules out most of the house.

Then the equipment comes out. Acoustic ground microphones pick up the hiss of water escaping under pressure through timber, concrete and soil. A thermal camera shows the warm or cool trail a leak leaves in walls and floors. For leaks under paths, driveways and banks, we trace the pipe route first so we listen in the right places instead of digging test holes.

How It Works

Your side of the toby or Tiaki Wai's?

In Wellington City, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua the public water network is now run by Tiaki Wai, formerly Wellington Water. Tiaki Wai describes the point of supply as the water toby, usually in a plastic box under the ground near your boundary, and says leaks on your property are the owner's to repair. Leaks in the street or berm on the network side should be reported to Tiaki Wai on 0800 842 549.

On the Kāpiti Coast the water network is run in-house by Kāpiti Coast District Council, and every property is metered. The manifold box with the blue lid outside your property holds the toby and the meter, and a reading that keeps climbing with everything off is a reliable sign of a leak. Either way, if the leak is on your side, we find it and fix it. If a failed toby is the cause, our shut-off valve team can replace it.

What affects the cost

Most homes are straightforward, but some searches take longer. The price moves with:

• Whether the leak is inside the house or on a long underground supply pipe
• Floor type: suspended timber floors are quicker to search than concrete slabs
• Access to the subfloor, especially on steep hillside sections
• How many separate lines need isolating and pressure testing
• Whether you want the repair done on the same visit
• Apartments and multi-unit sites with shared supply pipes

Leaks in Wellington homes: what we usually find

Many older Wellington houses sit on timber piles with a subfloor you can crawl into, which makes a leak under the floor fairly quick to confirm once we know which line to look at. In villas and workers' cottages in suburbs like Newtown, Mt Victoria and Thorndon, the culprit is often an old galvanised or copper pipe that has corroded at a joint. Where those lines keep failing, repiping is the lasting fix.

Hillside homes in Karori, Brooklyn and Khandallah often have a long supply pipe climbing from the street, sometimes under steps, decks and retaining walls. A failed joiner on that water main can leak for a long time without anyone seeing water. Newer slab-on-ground townhouses hide their pipes in concrete and inside walls, which is where acoustic gear earns its keep. Tiaki Wai estimates around 37% of water was lost across its network in 2025/26, counting public and private leaks, so fixing the one on your property genuinely helps.

Why Choose Cheeky's Plumbers for Leak Detection

Leak Detection FAQs

Leak Detection Across Wellington

Our leak detection team works in every Wellington suburb. Find your local plumbers:

Leak Detection Guides

• Old Pipes Under Wellington Villas: Galvanised Steel, Copper and When to Replace
• Wellington Water Restrictions: What Level 1 Means for Your Garden and Hose
• How to Check Your Wellington Home for a Hidden Water Leak
• Tiaki Wai Explained: What Changed for Wellington Homeowners in 2026

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