Emergency Plumber Utrecht

Need an emergency plumber in Utrecht? Here's what happens when you call

If you're woken in the night by dripping, or find the shower tray full of water in the morning, what you most want to know is what happens next. So let's start with how we work. Call 085 115 0249. As a 24-hour plumber we're available day and night, including Sundays and Boxing Day. Tell us what's going on and what you've already tried. We'll ask, for example, whether the water is clean or dirty, which floor you live on and whether the neighbours are already affected.

We'll then give you an honest assessment and a price estimate. If you're happy to go ahead, a plumber heads to your address and is usually there within the hour. If you're in the low-traffic city centre, we'll agree beforehand where they can park or load and unload. On arrival, our emergency plumber in Utrecht first finds the cause, then fixes the problem, and afterwards explains what was wrong.

Utrecht homes, from canal wharf to new-build suburb

Utrecht is an old city that grew enormously in the twentieth century. Medieval buildings, nineteenth-century streets, post-war estates of flats and one of the largest new-build areas in the country all lie within a single municipality. A plumber in Utrecht needs to know every one of these building periods, because each has its own weak spots.

City centre: living above shops and wharves

Around the Oudegracht, the Nieuwegracht and the Dom, the ground floors are often shops, cafés or restaurants, with people living on the floors above. Water pipes and drains run through both businesses and homes, and have been altered time and again over the centuries. So a leaking shower on the second floor can cause damage in a business two floors down, or in a wharf cellar by the water. With a leak in Utrecht like this, every hour counts, not least because the business downstairs will want to open again the next morning.

Lombok, Wittevrouwen and Oudwijk

Just outside the singels, the canals ringing the old centre, lie the streets from around 1900. In Lombok and Wittevrouwen these are often narrow upper and lower flats with a cramped bathroom; in Oudwijk, spacious town houses that were later split into flats. Over the years the water pipes here have been replaced piece by piece, so copper, plastic and sometimes even a length of lead pipe are all mixed together. It's precisely where those materials meet that leaks develop.

Tuindorp and Oog in Al: spacious houses with gardens

Tuindorp and Oog in Al are mainly made up of homes from the 1920s and 1930s, with front and back gardens, crawl spaces and sometimes a shed with its own tap. Pipes in the crawl space or shed are vulnerable in frosty weather. And the sewer connection here often runs a fair way through the garden before it reaches the street.

Overvecht, Kanaleneiland and Hoograven

The post-war expansion areas are largely made up of walk-up and deck-access flats. In Overvecht and Kanaleneiland, many flats share the same rising main for mains water. If it has to be turned off for a repair, the whole stairwell is left without water for a while. The original valves, taps and cisterns have often been replaced, but by no means everywhere.

Lunetten, Leidsche Rijn and Vleuten-De Meern

Lunetten was built in the 1970s and 1980s, with home zones and family houses. Leidsche Rijn followed from the late 1990s, and Vleuten-De Meern has been part of the municipality since 2001. These newer homes have modern installations: plastic pipes, underfloor heating and services in shafts. That saves a lot of trouble, but it also makes leaks harder to spot. Water from a leaking coupling under the screed can take days to appear somewhere.

Water in and around the city of the Dom

Damp or leak: cellars and basements in the old city

In old buildings along the canals, cellars and basements are often naturally a bit damp. That makes a leaking pipe hard to tell apart from moisture coming through the wall or up from the ground. A moisture meter and a thermal camera settle the question. A leaking pipe usually causes a patch that grows and follows the route of the pipe; damp from a wall or the ground behaves differently. That way, an emergency plumber in Utrecht doesn't have to open up a wall or cellar floor on a hunch.

Frost in sheds, crawl spaces and dormers

In a hard frost, pipes in an unheated shed, a crawl space or a poorly insulated dormer are the first to freeze. The water expands, the pipe splits and, as soon as it thaws, water starts to escape. In the autumn, turn off the outside tap at the valve indoors and let it drain. Insulate pipes in cold spaces and, during a long cold spell, temporarily close the crawl space vents.

Students, tenants and owners: who calls the plumber?

In a student house

Utrecht has lots of student houses, both in the older neighbourhoods and at Utrecht Science Park. Make sure everyone in the house knows where the main stopcock is and who the landlord is. If there's a leak, turn off the water first and then let the landlord know. If you can't reach them and the water keeps coming, you can call a plumber in Utrecht yourself to stop things getting worse.

In a rented home

If you rent from a housing association or a private landlord, report leaks and faulty pipes to them; as a rule, they're responsible for these. Small jobs in the home, such as cleaning out a trap, are often down to the tenant. Your tenancy agreement spells out exactly who does what.

In an owner-occupied house or flat

If you own a house, you're responsible for the pipes indoors and the sewer connection on your own property; from roughly the property boundary, the municipality takes over. In a flat, shared rising mains and soil stacks usually belong to the VvE (owners' association), so report any problem with them to the managing agent too.

Four emergencies that keep cropping up in Utrecht

A plumber in Utrecht gets some calls week in, week out. Here's what you can do yourself right away in each case.

Water leaking into a downstairs flat in Utrecht

In the upper and lower flats of Lombok and Wittevrouwen, this is the most familiar emergency of all. If you live upstairs and the water keeps coming even after you've turned off the main stopcock, it's probably coming from a drain: stop using water altogether. If you live downstairs, put buckets down, switch off any lights in the wet ceiling and ring your upstairs neighbours' doorbell.

A leak under the floor in Tuindorp or Oog in Al

Can you hear water running while all the taps are off, or is the water meter still turning? If so, a pipe in the crawl space may be leaking. Turn off the main stopcock and shine a torch through the hatch, but don't climb into the crawl space if there's standing water. An emergency plumber in Utrecht traces the leak and replaces the damaged section of pipe.

A shower that keeps filling up in a student house

Where five or six people share one shower, a clump of hair and soap builds up fast. If the water takes a little longer to drain after each shower, don't wait until it's completely blocked. A plunger can help; caustic or acid drain cleaners are not a good idea, especially if the plumber has to work on the drain afterwards.

Water around the dishwasher or washing machine

A kink or split in a supply hose, a waste hose that has come loose or a leaking trap under the sink: in new builds and flats, these are among the most common causes of a wet floor. Switch the appliance off, turn off its tap and mop up the water before it soaks in under the kitchen units.

Unblocking drains, finding leaks, replacing taps

If the kitchen sink won't drain because of grease, coffee grounds and food scraps, the plumber comes round to unblock the sink. In student houses and family homes where lots of people share one bathroom, the shower in particular soon gets blocked; the plumber then clears the shower drain and the pipe behind it.

If water is finding its way through the ceiling or a wall, we track down the leak without opening up more than necessary. If a pipe has burst or split, for instance after a frosty night or during a renovation, we carry out a water pipe repair. And a tap that drips, squeaks or won't shut off properly can be repaired, or replaced with a new one there and then.

Doesn't your problem fit any of these categories? Just give us a call: an emergency plumber in Utrecht will also look at jobs that don't fit anywhere else. We'll tell you on the phone which approach makes most sense, and you can read more on the page covering all our services.

What affects the price of an emergency plumber in Utrecht

A simple job with Breeman starts from €89. The call-out charge comes on top, as it isn't included in the starting price. If the plumber has to come out in the evening, at night or at the weekend, an out-of-hours rate applies.

For larger work, such as tracing and fixing a leak in a pipe duct or replacing an old cast-iron waste pipe, you can ask for a quote first. Whatever the job, you'll get a price estimate in advance, and it's up to you whether the work goes ahead. We're currently rated 4.9/5 based on 89 Google reviews.

Preventing problems in your Utrecht home

A few habits can save a lot of emergency call-outs, especially in houses with lots of people living in them:

• Fit a small hair catcher in every shower drain and clean it weekly.
• Don't pour fat from the fryer or frying pan down the sink; let it set and put it in the general waste.
• Only flush toilet paper: no wet wipes, tampons or kitchen roll.
• Turn off the washing machine tap if you're away for a few days; a burst inlet hose is a common cause of water damage to the neighbours below.
• Check the sealant around the shower and bath now and then, and replace any cracked sealant before water gets behind the tiles.

Available outside Utrecht too

Spoed Loodgieter Breeman works not just in the city of the Dom but throughout the Netherlands, so there's a plumber near you in the surrounding region too. You can also call us in Amersfoort, Amsterdam and Almere, and further south and east in Den Bosch and Arnhem. To see which cities have their own page, take a look at all our locations.

Something dripping, leaking or gurgling at home right now? Call 085 115 0249 and an emergency plumber in Utrecht will come out as quickly as possible.