Plumbing repairs and installations in Mill Hill

What kind of place is Mill Hill for plumbing?

Mill Hill is three places that happen to share a postcode. The old village strung out along The Ridgeway, on the crest of the hill, is a conservation area of listed cottages, large houses and the grounds of Mill Hill School. Below it, Mill Hill Broadway and the roads around the Thameslink station are mostly 1930s semis and detached houses. Then there are the new neighbourhoods: Millbrook Park on the former Inglis Barracks at Mill Hill East, and the homes being built on the old National Institute for Medical Research site on The Ridgeway.

Each has its own plumbing character, so say which you are in.

Does the ridge matter?

Mill Hill is one of the higher parts of the borough, and mains pressure falls as the ground rises. Houses near the top may find the shower upstairs is gentler than friends' in Hendon, and large houses with several bathrooms notice it most when two run together. Fitting a pump to boost the supply is not a free choice: under the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, a pump that takes over 12 litres a minute out of the supply pipe has to be notified to your water company and agreed in advance. A plumber can say what is allowed.

Cold winds reach high ground first, so lag anything in a loft or garage before winter.

What comes up on The Ridgeway?

Listed houses and cottages have pipework fitted in stages over two or three centuries. A supply pipe may cross a long front garden from the road, with the owner responsible for it from the boundary, and a leak on that run can show only as a damp strip in the lawn. Running new pipes through historic walls or floors can need listed building consent from Barnet Council, so ask before planning work. Leaks and water damage in timber-framed or lath and plaster buildings deserve a quick response from you, even if the repair itself can wait for a quote.

What about the 1930s houses near the Broadway?

These are the houses most plumbers know best. Typical requests are cisterns that run on in hard water, washing machines moved into new utility rooms, and the aftermath of loft conversions, where the cold tank was removed and the hot water now comes from a combination boiler or an unvented cylinder. Fitting an unvented cylinder is notifiable under Part G of the Building Regulations, so keep its paperwork.

Are the new developments different?

Yes. Homes at Millbrook Park and on the research institute site are plumbed in plastic, with mains pressure hot water, no loft tank and, in the flats, shared risers and booster pumps looked after by a management company. If your home is only a few years old, look at the builder's defects period before booking a plumber, as a leaking joint or a running cistern may be the builder's to fix. After that, the usual rules apply. In a flat, the lease decides whose pipe is whose.

What about the water itself?

Mill Hill's supply is hard, like the rest of the borough, so scale on cistern valves, shower heads and tap seats is behind many of the small faults people ask about.

What happens to an enquiry from NW7?

With your consent it goes to one local plumber whose area includes your postcode, if there is one. Otherwise we tell you and share nothing.