Emergency plumber in Chelsea

Chelsea’s oldest houses, on Cheyne Walk, Cheyne Row and Lawrence Street, are some of the finest early Georgian buildings in the borough. Around them grew Victorian garden squares such as Paultons Square, artists’ studio houses on Tite Street and Glebe Place, red-brick mansion flats along the river and, in SW10, the stucco terraces around The Boltons and Redcliffe Square. A typical house here is three storeys over a lower ground floor, and that lower floor is where many of our Chelsea emergencies begin.

When the sewers back up

Chelsea’s sewers are combined: rainwater and waste share the same pipes. In a heavy storm they fill up, and water can back up through basement toilets, showers and floor drains. In July 2007, Thames Water recorded 511 properties flooded in Kensington and Chelsea, and Sloane Square was among the areas affected. In July 2021, Sloane Square station was closed by flooding. High tides on the Thames can make things worse, because the sewers cannot discharge while the river is high.

Worth knowing: Since 2015, Kensington and Chelsea’s basement policy has required new basements to be protected from sewer flooding by a pumped device. It says a non-return valve on its own is not acceptable, because the sewer can surcharge to just below the manhole covers. Thames Water has fitted hundreds of FLIP pumps to basements in the borough for the same reason.

Basements and lower ground floors

Kensington and Chelsea has one of the highest densities of basement homes in the UK, because there is so little room to build out or up. New and extended basements bring pumps, sumps and long drainage runs below ground. When one fails, the water is out of sight until it is not. We find out whether the water is coming from a supply pipe, a heating circuit or the drains, and deal with the cause.

Studio houses, mansion flats and estate leases

Chelsea’s studio houses and mansion blocks have their own quirks: tall rooms, long pipe runs and shared plant. Many flats are leasehold on the Cadogan estate, whose guidelines say no alterations should start until a Licence for Alterations is granted. Stopping a leak and repairing like for like is fine. If a lasting fix would change the layout or the services, we tell you first so you can apply.

A protected neighbourhood

Almost three quarters of Kensington and Chelsea is in a conservation area. The Chelsea Park and Carlyle appraisal lists plumbing, vents and flues attached to the outside of houses among the changes that harm the area’s character. If a repair means new external pipework, we look for a route at the back first.

From Cheyne Walk to Redcliffe Square, call 07862 142953 or WhatsApp us a photo. See blocked toilet or drain if water is coming back up.