Burst pipes and hidden leaks
across Campbelltown

At the street boundary, which on a back-to-front block is behind the house rather than in front of it. That catches people out when they are trying to shut the water off in a hurry. It is worth finding yours on a calm afternoon rather than at midnight with water coming through a ceiling, and worth making sure the lid actually lifts. A meter box that has been grassed over or built against is a genuine problem at the one moment it matters.

Because it is long, and all of it is your responsibility. Everything from the meter to the house is the property owner's, and on these blocks that run crosses the entire yard before it reaches a tap. More metres means more chances of a failure, and the whole length sits under lawn or paving where nothing shows. A leak out there can run for months while the house itself looks completely fine.

Easily, and here the honest test is the meter rather than your eyes. Shut every tap and appliance in the house, then watch the meter for fifteen minutes. If the dial is still moving, water is leaving the system somewhere. It costs nothing, it works regardless of where the leak is, and on a long buried service run it is often the only symptom you will ever get.

Do the meter test above, and if it is turning, treat it as real. A bill is very often the first and only sign of a leak on a buried service run. Acting promptly matters because you are paying for every litre while it continues, and because water escaping under a driveway or path will eventually take the ground with it and the surface will start to move.

With equipment rather than guesswork. Acoustic gear listens for the sound of water escaping under the surface, and pressure testing isolates which section has lost integrity, so we narrow a long run down to a point before anything is opened. That matters on a block where the alternative is trenching the length of a yard on a hunch, then reinstating whatever was over the top of it.

They are one of the most common causes of serious water damage in Australian homes, and they are on a clock. The braided hose under your sink or vanity lasts about five to ten years, and when it goes it does not drip, it releases mains pressure continuously until somebody reaches the meter. Which, on a back-to-front block, is out the back door and down the yard. Replacing them before they fail is cheap.

An emergency make-safe is $250 to $500. Leak detection runs $300 to $600 depending on how much ground has to be covered, and a long service run is at the upper end. Repair once located is $400 to $1,200 for most jobs, with access and surface reinstatement moving it more than the pipe does. A flexible hose replacement is $150 to $350.