Plumber in Hendon

Plumbing in Hendon: what is different here

Leaks in Hendon's converted houses

At the 2021 Census, 13.3% of households in both Hendon and West Hendon wards lived in houses converted into flats or rooms, well above the Barnet figure of 8.8%. In those buildings a bathroom often sits directly over someone else's kitchen, with timber floors between them and pipework that was rerouted when the house was divided. The leaks we trace there are usually a perished seal around a shower tray, a weeping joint on a waste pipe hidden in a boxed run, or an overflow from a cistern that never quite stops.

We find the source before anyone lifts floorboards, fix it, and photograph the failed part so the two flats, or the freeholder, can settle who pays.

Student lets near Middlesex University

Barnet's appraisal places the university's campus further north along The Burroughs, and some of the houses in the streets around it are let to groups of students. Four or five people using one shower every morning wears out cartridges, shower hoses and waste traps far faster than a family would, and hair and soap blockages are routine.

Barnet's additional licensing applies to houses shared by three or more people from two or more households, and every HMO licence carries the national conditions on gas safety. We keep repair records dated and photographed, which is what a council officer asks to see. Booking repairs outside the start of term avoids the busiest weeks.

Period pipework on The Burroughs and around Church End

The Georgian and Victorian terraces on The Burroughs, and the older houses around St Mary's at Church End, are among the oldest homes in Hendon. Plumbing there has been altered many times, so it is common to find old iron or lead sections next to copper and plastic, and runs that pass through solid walls. The Drinking Water Inspectorate says homes built before 1970 may still have lead supply pipes.

If yours does, we can replace the part on your side of the boundary in plastic. On listed buildings, any change to external pipework or wall openings needs the right consent first, so we keep to the inside where we can.

Hard water and Hendon's supply

The company that supplies your street, Affinity Water or Thames Water, depends on the address, and your bill will show it. Affinity's 2025 reports for its two neighbouring zones gave total hardness of 333 mg/l for Colindale/Kingsbury and 275 mg/l for Finchley, which the Drinking Water Inspectorate classes as very hard and hard.

Either way, limescale builds up in shower heads, thermostatic valves, WC fill valves and immersion elements. Thames Water is the sewerage company for all of Hendon, so a blockage beyond your property boundary is reported to them. Inside the boundary, we clear it.

Post-war flats east of Brent Street

The Victoria County History notes multi-storey blocks built east of Brent Street after the war, and Hendon ward was 44.6% purpose-built flats at the 2021 Census. In blocks of that age, the stack pipes, rising mains and roof tanks usually belong to the freeholder, while the bath, basin, kitchen sink and the short branch pipes feeding them belong to the flat. Common calls are a slow-draining bath where the branch joins an old cast iron stack, a WC pan connector that has hardened and lets water out on every flush, and a radiator valve seized after years without being turned.

If the fault is in the shared stack or main, we write down what we found so the leaseholder can pass it to the managing agent.

Interwar semis and hot water cylinders

The Victoria County History says houses had covered the remaining land in the south of the parish by 1935, and many of the semis built around Hendon Central in those years kept a hot water cylinder and a loft tank. Those systems bring their own calls: a cylinder weeping at a joint, a ball valve that sticks and floods the overflow, and radiators that heat unevenly because the system has collected sludge.

We work on the water side of the system. Any work on a gas boiler goes to a Gas Safe registered engineer, and we say plainly when replacing a cylinder is better value than repairing it again.

Official sources

• Affinity Water 2025 hardness figures for the Colindale/Kingsbury zone next to Hendon
• Affinity Water 2025 hardness figures for the Finchley zone east of Hendon
• DWI advice on homes built before 1970 and lead supply pipes
• Census 2021 dwelling types for Hendon and West Hendon wards (converted houses)
• Barnet appraisal of The Burroughs, including the Middlesex University campus

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.