The B’s, a young couple living in Hatfield, left their new build flat and went for a night out. They came back in the early hours of Saturday morning to find their flat sinking in half an inch of water. They called us in a panic – turning to us, as we had worked for one of their parents. We arrived at about 2.30 in the morning to find a small waterfall running out of the building and hammering on the bike sheds outside.

The engineer quickly found the isolation valve to stop the damage getting worse (unfortunately two floors of flats below were also affected). He then traced the leak to a simple push-fit coupling that hadn’t been properly secured and which had blown apart when the mains pressure became too strong.

We replaced the fitting and helped the couple clear up for a bit. The next day we returned with some industrial de-humidifiers and whilst the damage was extensive, it could have been a lot worse if they had stayed out for an hour longer or if we had been slower to attend. Fortunately, they returned just in time and phoned Baker Smith, which guarantees to have experienced plumbers on call, day/night 24/7.