Plumbers in Reading

If you’ve lived in Reading for a while, you’ll know the white crust that builds up on taps, shower screens and kettles. Thames Water classes the area’s water as hard to very hard. Its supply zone figures range from about 260 mg/l in Reading East to over 300 mg/l around Tilehurst village. Limescale is behind many local plumbing calls: shower valves that stick, cartridge taps that drip, and immersion heaters and cylinders that slowly lose efficiency.

The age of Reading’s homes matters too. About a quarter of homes in the borough were built before 1919. In the Victorian terraces of Katesgrove, Newtown and the Oxford Road, pipework has often been altered several times over the decades, so a good plumber will trace runs before cutting in. If your home was built before about 1970, it may still have a lead supply pipe between the stop tap and the street. Your plumber can tell you, and Thames Water can advise on replacing its section.

Common plumbing jobs in Reading include:

• Fixing dripping taps and replacing worn cartridges.
• Repairing leaks under sinks and baths, or behind the toilet.
• Replacing running toilet cistern parts.
• Fitting outside taps.
• Emergency call-outs for burst or frozen pipes in winter.

Rental homes add to the workload. Around a third of Reading households rent privately, and landlords need quick, reliable repairs between tenancies.

When choosing a plumber, ask for a written quote that says whether parts are included and how extra time is charged. Check whether there’s a call-out fee or a minimum charge, and ask how long the work is guaranteed for. For anything involving your boiler or gas supply, use a Gas Safe registered engineer instead. Reviews on Trade Pilot are tied to real, invoiced jobs, so you can see what a plumber has done for other Reading homeowners before you invite them round.

It’s worth knowing where your stop tap is before you need it. In many terraces it’s under the kitchen sink or just inside the front door.