Plumber, electrician and gas engineer in Barnet

Local service

Plumbing, heating and electrical work in Barnet

Barnet is one of the most populous boroughs in London, and much of it was built in one burst between the wars. When the Underground reached Edgware in 1924 (today's Northern line), fields around Hendon, Mill Hill and Edgware filled with brick and pebble-dash semis, many of which still have their original layout: a back boiler or a later floor-standing boiler in the kitchen, a cold water tank in the loft and a copper cylinder in the airing cupboard.

Further south the picture changes. Finchley and East Finchley have Victorian and Edwardian terraces and semis, Totteridge and parts of Mill Hill have large detached houses in big gardens, and Hampstead Garden Suburb has the Arts and Crafts cottages and houses laid out from 1907. Golders Green and Childs Hill mix Edwardian houses with mansion flats.

The newest Barnet is in the west. Colindale has grown into one of the biggest clusters of new flats in outer London on the old Peel Centre and hospital sites and around Grahame Park, and Brent Cross Town is adding thousands more homes. These flats bring a different set of jobs: electric water heaters, extractor fans, consumer units and leaks that run into the flat below.

Many of the inter-war semis have since been extended twice: a rear kitchen extension in the 1980s and a loft conversion more recently. Each addition was usually connected to whatever pipes and cables were nearest, so by the time we arrive the heating, hot water and wiring are carrying far more than they were designed for. A survey of the whole house before the next project is often the cheapest way to avoid problems later.

We cover the whole of Barnet, including Chipping Barnet, New Barnet, East Barnet, Whetstone, Totteridge, Finchley, East Finchley, Friern Barnet, Hendon, Mill Hill, Edgware, Colindale, Golders Green, Childs Hill and Hampstead Garden Suburb. Postcodes: N2, N3, N11, N12, N20, NW4, NW7, NW9, NW11, EN4, EN5, HA8.

Popular in Barnet

Most booked services in Barnet

• Boiler servicing and replacement
• Hot water cylinder installation
• Rewiring
• Gas safety certificates
• Leak repairs
• Bathroom refurbishment

Local knowledge

Good to know before you book

Hampstead Garden Suburb is unusual: on top of the council's conservation area rules, the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust runs a scheme of management, and external changes such as a new flue, a boiler outlet on a front wall or an air conditioning unit need the Trust's consent. Work inside the house rarely does. We plan the flue route with you before the boiler is ordered so the job is not held up.

In the inter-war houses the most common problem is a heating system that has grown piece by piece: an extension radiator on a separate run, a loft room tapped off an undersized pipe, and an old pump. A new boiler alone will not fix cold rooms in that case, so we look at the pipe sizes and the balance of the system and tell you what it really needs.

Barnet's water is hard, as it is across most of north London. Scale builds up in combi boiler heat exchangers, shower heads and electric water heaters, and a scale reducer on the cold main into the boiler is often worth fitting when a new boiler goes in.

Hendon, Golders Green and Childs Hill have a large number of rented flats and shared houses. Landlords need a gas safety check every twelve months, and an electrical installation condition report at least every five years. If you manage several properties in the area, we can line up the visits so the certificates for each one fall due at sensible intervals instead of all at once.

Totteridge and the larger Mill Hill houses often have long gardens, outbuildings and garden offices. Running power to a garden room means a properly buried armoured cable or ducted cable, its own protective device at the consumer unit and an outdoor isolator. It is worth planning the route before the garden is landscaped, not after.

Finchley and East Finchley houses often have a cellar or a half-basement, and some owners are now turning them into a utility room, gym or shower room. Below-ground rooms need a pumped waste if the drain is higher than the new basin or shower, an extractor that can cope with the damp, and sockets and lights on RCD-protected circuits. We plan all three together so the room is ready for building control sign-off.