Lead Pipe Replacement in London
Homes built before 1970 across London still drink through lead.
There is no safe level of lead in drinking water, replacement is the fix, and moling means the garden path usually survives it.
Lead pipe replacement in London: what the price includes
- Identification first. Dull grey, soft enough to scratch, swan-necked at the stopcock, five minutes tells you if the service pipe is lead.
- Trenchless where possible. Moling pulls the new MDPE pipe through underground, avoiding open trenches across paths and gardens.
- Full runs, not splices. Partial replacement can worsen lead pickup at the junction, we replace stopcock to stopcock.
- Water company liaison. Some suppliers contribute to communication-pipe replacement, we tell you what to claim before you spend.
- Your water company may pay for part of it. Most UK water companies replace their own side of a lead supply free of charge once you replace yours, and several run grant schemes towards the private length. We tell you what is available in your area and provide the paperwork they ask for, a lot of customers do not know this exists.
Local conditions we work around
Any London property built before about 1970 can still have a lead supply pipe between the street and the stopcock, and hard water is, unusually, the mitigating factor, mineral scale coats the inside of the pipe and reduces how much lead reaches the tap. That is protection, not a solution, and it disappears the moment the pipe is disturbed by other work. Thames Water will typically replace their side of the communication pipe when you replace yours, which is worth arranging as one job.
Covered across London
Same price and the same guarantee in every area below. Each has its own page with the streets we cover.
Questions people ask
Is lead pipe actually dangerous?
UK guidance is unambiguous: no safe level, with children and pregnancy highest-risk. Hard-water scale coats some pipes protectively, but that's mitigation, not a fix, and it washes off when work disturbs it.
What does replacement cost?
There is no call-out charge. It is £99 for the first hour, then £49 for each additional half hour, plus the cost of parts, and the same at any hour of the day or night.
Can I just filter instead?
Point-of-use filters reduce lead at one tap and need religious cartridge changes. As a permanent whole-house answer, they lose to replacement on every axis except this month's cash flow.
How do I know if I have lead pipes?
Look at the pipe where it enters before the stopcock. Lead is dull grey, soft enough to mark with a coin, and has rounded swollen joints rather than fittings. Any London property built before about 1970 is worth checking.
Is it actually dangerous?
There is no safe level of lead in drinking water, and the risk is highest for babies and young children. In soft-water areas the risk is greater still, because soft water is more plumbosolvent, which is why lead matters in older homes even where the water is hard.
How long does the work take?
A typical domestic supply replacement is one day, usually moled underground rather than trenched so the garden and driveway are largely undisturbed. The water is off for a few hours in the middle of it, not for the day.