He found it and my dad wrapped some hosepipe around it and clamped it with a couple of hose clamps. This cut the leak down enough for us to use water for the necessities, turning it off at the stopcock between.
The bottom of the wall near the stopcock.
The next dad my dad and I drove around trying to find suitable plumbing fittings for him to mend it. In the end I decided to call a plumber because I just wanted to make it go away - remember, we were under tremendous pressure with trying to sort out the house move and all. My dad, although confident that he could have fixed it, conceded and I got a plumber out.
The plumber tried to fix it and then decided that the whole length of lead pipe would need to be replaced, with the new piping running from the stopcock up through the ceiling into the bathroom. He went home at suppertime and during the evening my dad and Grant went ahead and did the plumbing themselves!
They had to hack open the whole wall from floor to ceiling.
The pipe disappearing through the ceiling into the bathroom.
Here you can see the old lead pipe still in the wall next to the new pvc pipe.
They did a great job and let's just say the plumber was *a bit* surprised the next morning when he came to do the job! He was impressed, though, and said they'd done a great job.
My dad and Grant have cemented in the wall trench and it just needs sanding and painting.
