Plumber in Simpson
Tell Us About the Job in Simpson
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Simpson is one of the villages that predates Milton Keynes, with the church, the older cottages and the brook that runs through it all considerably older than anything around them.
The plumbing point about a village like this is not the age of the buildings. It is that the services went in long after the buildings did, and nobody wrote down where they went.
Based in Two Mile Ash, around twenty minutes across the city. Gas Safe registered, registration number 981362.
- Gas Safe registered 981362
- Around twenty minutes across the city
- Assume there is a pipe in the wall before you drill
- Booked work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm
Last updated
Services added to buildings that never expected them
Water, drainage, gas and electricity all arrived in these houses decades or centuries after they were built. Each was routed wherever was possible at the time, by whoever was doing it, with no expectation that anyone would need to find it again.
- So assume there is a pipe in the wall. Before drilling, before fixing a shelf, before lifting a floorboard. In older village property this is not caution, it is experience.
- Runs go through odd places. Along external walls, through unheated voids, boxed into corners, occasionally taking routes nobody would choose now. Some of those runs are in cold spaces, which is why the freeze risk in older village property is higher than in an estate house.
- Drainage may predate the records. Where a drain blocks repeatedly rather than once, a CCTV survey is worth more than a fourth clearance. See blocked drains.
The brook, and low-lying ground
Simpson sits on the Ouzel, and the brook running through the village is the reason parts of the area sit lower and wetter than the ground around them.
Three things follow for anyone in the older, lower-lying part:
- Cellars and outbuildings run damp. Not necessarily a leak. Damp that is worst in cold weather, appears on external walls and improves with ventilation is condensation rather than water escaping from a pipe, and the fix is completely different. A meter test settles it in an hour.
- Anything with an electrical supply belongs off the floor in an outbuilding or cellar. That includes pumps, freezers and anything on an extension lead.
- Know where your stopcock is and check it turns, which matters more anywhere near a watercourse than it does inland. See our stopcock guide.
The single most useful thing you can do
Photograph pipework whenever a wall or floor is open
If you are having any work done, take pictures before it is covered up. Where the runs go, where the joints are, which direction the joists run. It costs nothing at the time and it is worth a great deal to whoever works on the house next, including you.
Nobody in an old village house regrets having those photographs.
The rest of it
Beyond the village core, Simpson has later housing that behaves conventionally. In the older property, solid walls mean higher heat loss and larger radiators, more so now that Part L requires new systems designed for a 55°C flow temperature. Where a building is listed, flue positions and external pipework can be constrained and consent may be required for alterations.
Gravity hot water is common in the older stock, and converting to an unvented cylinder is usually the biggest single improvement available.
Hard water
Same Anglian Water supply as the rest of Milton Keynes, around 300 mg/l of calcium carbonate against a UK average of 207. In older property with original fittings it shows up quickly on taps and shower valves. See our hard water guide.
Getting to Simpson
Around twenty minutes from Two Mile Ash. Fine for booked work and out of hours.
Frequently asked questions
Should I worry about drilling into walls here?
Assume there is something in them. In older village property the services were routed wherever was possible and nobody recorded it.
My drain keeps blocking in the same place.
Repeat blockages point to something structural rather than something you are doing. A survey establishes what is actually down there.
My house is listed. Can you replace the boiler?
Usually, though flue position and external pipework need designing first, and consent sits with you and the council. Survey early rather than in an emergency.
Why is my old cottage cold when the radiators are hot?
Usually undersized radiators. Solid walls lose more heat, and a system running at a lower flow temperature needs them larger again.
Do you cover Ashland and Woughton on the Green?
Yes, along with Walnut Tree, Browns Wood, Peartree Bridge and Caldecotte.
What we do in Simpson
Where we cover in Simpson
- Simpson
- Ashland
- Woughton on the Green
- Walnut Tree
- Browns Wood
- Peartree Bridge
- Caldecotte
Get in touch
Call 07514 312117 or send a WhatsApp. Gas Safe registered 981362, CIPHE member, fully insured.