Seven signs your home has a hidden water leak

Hidden leaks are quiet vandals. By the time you can see the damage, the water has usually been escaping for months. The good news: your water meter will confess everything if you know how to ask.

The seven signs

• +A water bill noticeably higher than the same quarter last year
• +The sound of running water when everything is off
• +A warm patch on a concrete floor — the signature of a hot water slab leak
• +Damp or lifting carpet, swollen skirting boards, or bubbling paint
• +Mould appearing in a room with no obvious moisture source
• +Water pressure that's gradually worsened
• +Green, lush patches in an otherwise ordinary lawn

The ten-minute meter test

Turn off every tap and water-using appliance, then watch your meter. If the dials are still creeping, water is leaving your pipes somewhere. Note the reading, wait ten minutes without using water, and read it again — any movement is your daily leak rate in miniature.

If the meter moves, resist the urge to start opening walls. Modern leak detection pinpoints the escape point acoustically to within centimetres, which is the difference between one neat access hole and a demolition job. And if water is actively flooding, skip the diagnostics and treat it as an emergency — isolate at the meter and call us.