Moved into a new house? How do you know where your pipes are located?

Like the safety briefing on an aircraft, or the terms of service when signing up to a website, it’s easy to switch off when it comes to the location of pipes when moving into a new home.

However, that could be a costly mistake.

Here are 4 important checks to ensure you know exactly where your pipes are:

1. Locate and check your stop tap

It’s always wise to ask the previous owner, but if they are long-gone or you’re moving into a new-build property, there are a few places this will often be. Under the kitchen sink, behind a downstairs toilet, or underneath a metal plate near your front door are three popular places.

It’s important to know where your stop tap is to stem the flow of mains water to your entire house if there’s a leak, to prevent costly floods and water damage. Simply turn the tap clockwise until it resists, but be careful not to over-tighten.

2. Where’s the boiler?

Okay, so it’s not too tough to find the boiler after having a quick explore before you move your belongings in. This is more to get an idea of where the hot water pipes travel to and give you an indication of potential problem areas in the walls leading up to where your boiler is situated.

If you don’t have a combi boiler, it’s worth checking where the hot water tank is situated, too, as the quantity of water stored in your home is much greater!

3. Finding your metallic pipes

Before drilling into a wall to put up pictures or secure furniture, it’s a sensible move to make sure pipes and electrical wires won’t be damaged. It’s usual for wires and pipes to travel vertically up or down from an appliance such as a light switch or radiator.

A pipe, wire and stud detector available from most hardware vendors online or in local shops can assist with finding problem areas by giving an audible warning before you start.

4. Plastic pipe detection?

It’s a lesser-known fact that you can also sometimes detect plastic pipes in your home.

In newer homes, for insulation, they might be wrapped in foil, meaning a pipe, wire and stud detector can still discover them, but this is not a guarantee!

Plastic pipes should run vertically up or down a wall, and only horizontally along the wall, under the floorboards or up into the ceiling space.

You can use this rule-of-thumb to assist you in avoiding plastic pipes from your kitchen or bathroom during any DIY work.

Wrapping up

By following the above steps, you will have complete knowledge of the location of the pipes in your new house, enabling you to get on with the DIY without having a mishap.

If in doubt, though, it never hurts to find a professional to assist with the plumbing jobs that need doing around your new home.