Water pouring from a ceiling or spraying from under a sink is frightening. The damage it does depends almost entirely on how quickly the water is turned off. Keep this page handy, or better still, read it now while everything is dry.
Minute one: turn the water off
Go straight to the stopcock and turn it clockwise until it stops. In most houses it's under the kitchen sink. In Glasgow tenement flats it's often in a hall cupboard, under a floorboard near where the supply pipe enters the flat, or occasionally in the close itself. If you can't find it or it won't turn, look for the small isolating valves on individual pipes near the leak — a quarter turn with a flat screwdriver closes them.
If the leak is from a hot water cylinder or a loft tank, turning off the stopcock stops fresh water arriving, but the tank will keep draining until it's empty. That's why the next steps matter.
Minute two: make the electrics safe
Water and electricity are the real danger. If water is anywhere near sockets, light fittings or appliances, switch off the affected circuits at the fuse box (consumer unit). If the fuse box itself is wet, or you'd have to stand in water to reach it, don't touch it. Leave the room and wait for help.
Never use a light fitting that has water dripping through it, even once the leak has stopped. It needs to dry out and be checked by an electrician first.
Minutes three and four: drain down and contain
Switch off the central heating and hot water, including any immersion heater, so nothing heats up without water in it. Then open all the cold taps in the house to drain the pipes, and flush the toilets. This empties the system faster and reduces how much water escapes from the break.
Catch what you can with buckets, bowls and towels. Move rugs, furniture, electronics and anything precious out of the room. If a ceiling is bulging with water, don't stand under it. Putting a bucket beneath and carefully piercing the bulge with a screwdriver lets the water out in one controlled place instead of bringing the ceiling down — but only do this if you feel safe.
Minute five: call us, and your neighbours
Call Southside Plumbing on 07414 946731. We answer 7am–10pm, 7 days a week. Tell us where the water is coming from, whether you've managed to turn it off, and whether it's reached any electrics. A photo sent by text helps us bring the right parts.
If you live in a flat, knock on the door of the flat below. Water travels, and your neighbour may need to check their own ceiling and electrics. If the leak is coming from above, go up and ask them to turn off their stopcock.
After the emergency
Photograph everything before you tidy up: the leak, the wet ceiling, damaged flooring and belongings. Your home insurer will want them, and most policies cover sudden escape of water. Call them early, and keep receipts for anything you spend on drying out.
Once the pipe is repaired, it's worth asking why it failed. Frozen pipes in a cold loft need lagging. Old lead or corroded iron pipework in older Southside properties may be close to the end of its life elsewhere too. Push-fit joints that were never fully seated can fail years later.
If the leak came from the bathroom — a failed shower tray seal, a cracked waste pipe, grout that has let water into the floor — a repair may only buy time. That's often the point when a full bathroom renovation makes more sense than another patch: new pipework, a properly tanked shower area, and no more stains on the ceiling below.
Smell gas? Different number
If you smell gas at any point, get everyone out, don't use switches or naked flames, and call the National Gas Emergency Service free on 0800 111 999, 24 hours a day.