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The first five minutes decide whether this ends as a mop-up or an insurance claim. Tick the boxes in order — then make the call.
The short version: turn the water off at the main stopcock — usually under the kitchen sink — open the cold taps to drain the pipework, and cut electrics near the water at the consumer unit if it is safe to reach. Then ring 020 4577 2888 at any hour to be connected with a local plumber covering Banbridge.
Do not start with towels — start with the supply. Everything gets easier once the pipe is no longer pressurised.
If a tap slowed to a dribble during a cold snap and the leak showed up as things thawed, the story is almost certainly a frozen pipe that split. The damp cold that settles over the Bann valley in winter finds every unlagged run — loft pipework in older solid-walled houses near the town centre, garage runs in newer estates, and outside taps everywhere.
Pipe repair tape and slip-on clamps have their place — as a stopgap on a drained pipe, not as a repair. Repressurising a system against a taped split is a bet you usually lose at 2am. Be doubly careful in older properties: Banbridge's stone and mill-era terraces often mix pipework of very different ages, and disturbing one tired joint can open a second leak two feet along. Keep the water off, keep the patch modest, and let the plumber make the permanent fix.
Have ready when the plumber calls back: where the water showed up, whether the stopcock is off, what the boiler was doing, and roughly how old the house is. Four answers, faster fix.
Close the stopcock and watch. If the leak stops, the fault is inside your own system and a plumber is the right call. If water keeps coming with the stopcock shut — or it is rising up outside the house — the problem is likely on the supply pipe or the mains. As a general rule in the UK, the supply pipe from the boundary into the house is the owner's responsibility; leaks on the public side of the boundary are the utility's, which in Northern Ireland means NI Water. A plumber can help you work out which side of the line the fault sits on before anyone digs anything.
If the burst is on the heating or hot water side, or you have drained the system through the cold taps, switch the boiler off until a plumber has checked it. Running a boiler on an empty or part-empty system can damage it, and it costs nothing to leave it resting.
Stopcock off first, then electricity off at the consumer unit if you can do it safely — never touch wet switches or fittings. Keep everyone out from under a badly sagging ceiling. If a slight bulge has formed, piercing a small hole with a bucket underneath lets the water down in a controlled way instead of all at once.
Many UK buildings policies cover escape-of-water damage, but excesses and exclusions vary, and damage put down to gradual wear can be treated differently. Photograph everything before you tidy up, tell your insurer promptly, and check your own policy wording rather than assuming.
Do not lean on it until something snaps. Try steady pressure with a cloth for grip, and if it still will not move, look for an outside stop valve under a small cover near the property boundary, or call a plumber — freeing or replacing a seized stopcock is routine work for them.
The main page — how the line works and the 60-second checklist.
Go to home →Pressure, lockouts, no hot water — and the gas checklist first.
Open the checklist →What to try, what never to pour away, when it is the main drain.
Open the checklist →National ballparks with caveats, and the questions to ask first.
Open the checklist →Pressure, controls, tripped switches — and the diverter clue.
Open the checklist →Prevention, gentle thawing from the tap end back — never a flame.
Open the checklist →Damp patches, dropping pressure, and the stopcock test.
Open the checklist →Ring at any hour to be connected with a local plumber covering Banbridge, Dromore, Rathfriland and the surrounding area.
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