Most plumbing failures give some warning before they cost money. A trap drains a little slower each week. A hose bulges before it splits. A stopcock that hasn't moved in ten years seizes on the one night you need it. A maintenance calendar turns those warnings into a routine, so you spot them on a quiet Saturday instead of in the middle of a flood.
Nothing below needs specialist tools. A torch, a flat and a cross-head screwdriver, an adjustable spanner, a bucket, some old towels and a toothbrush will cover almost everything. The seasons are written for the Northern Hemisphere; if you live south of the equator, shift them by six months.
The year at a glance
| When | Task | Rough time |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | Clear hair and debris from shower, bath and basin wastes | 10 minutes |
| Monthly | Look and feel under every sink with a torch | 5 minutes |
| Monthly | Turn the main stopcock and under-sink isolation valves | 5 minutes |
| Monthly (heating season) | Read the boiler pressure gauge | 1 minute |
| Every 3 months | Water meter leak test | 30 to 60 minutes with no water used |
| Every 3 months | Descale shower heads and tap aerators | 30 minutes |
| Every 3 months | Inspect washing machine and dishwasher hoses | 10 minutes |
| Every 3 months | Dye test toilet cisterns for silent leaks | 20 minutes, mostly waiting |
| Autumn | Bleed radiators, check pressure, lag pipes, drain outside taps | An afternoon |
| Winter | Frost settings, cold-snap checks, condensate pipe | As needed |
| Spring | Gutters, downpipes, outside taps, frost-damage check | An afternoon |
| Summer | Boiler service booking, holiday precautions | 30 minutes |
| Once a year | Professional boiler service, sealant inspection, pipework walk-round | Varies |
Pick a fixed day for the monthly jobs, the first Sunday for example, and put a reminder in your phone. Ten minutes on a routine day beats an hour of guesswork later.
Every month
Clear the traps and wastes
Hair, soap and toothpaste build a slow plug just below the plughole. Lift out the pop-up or strainer, pull out whatever has wrapped around it, and rinse it clean. On basins with an accessible bottle trap, put a bowl underneath, unscrew the bottom section by hand and empty it. Do it while things still drain normally and you'll rarely need a plunger. If a sink, bath or toilet is already slow, our blocked drains hub has step-by-step fixes.
Look under the sinks
Empty the cupboard if you have to. Shine a torch along the waste pipe, the trap, the flexible tap connectors and the isolation valves. Run your fingers along the underside of each joint, because a slow weep often shows up as dampness before you can see a drip. Swollen chipboard at the base of the cupboard and a faint musty smell are both clues.
Exercise the stopcock
Turn the main stopcock off, then back on. Do the same with the small isolation valves on the pipes under sinks and behind toilets, which usually take a quarter turn with a flat screwdriver. Valves that sit in one position for years tend to seize. After opening the stopcock fully, many plumbers suggest turning it back a quarter turn so it's less likely to stick in the open position. If one won't move with reasonable hand pressure, don't force it with a long wrench; get it looked at before you need it.
Read the boiler gauge
During the heating season, glance at the pressure gauge on a combi or system boiler. Many sit around 1 to 1.5 bar when cold, but check your manual for the exact range. A reading that keeps creeping down is worth investigating early.
Every three months
Test the water meter
Close every tap, make sure nothing is filling (washing machine, dishwasher, toilet cistern, water softener), and read the meter. Wait at least 30 minutes without using any water, an hour if you can, and read it again. Any movement means water is going somewhere it shouldn't. Our water meter leak test guide explains how to narrow down where. Small leaks add up: the US EPA's WaterSense programme estimates that household leaks can waste nearly 10,000 gallons a year in an average home.
Descale shower heads and aerators
In a hard-water area, scale builds quickly on shower heads and the mesh aerators inside tap spouts. Unscrew them, soak them in a citric acid solution for half an hour, brush them clean and refit. You'll often see the spray pattern improve straight away. In soft-water areas, a quick check twice a year is enough.
Check appliance hoses
Pull the washing machine and dishwasher out far enough to see their fill and drain hoses. Look for bulges, cracks near the fittings, rust on the end connectors and fraying on braided hoses. Feel the connection to the valve for dampness. Many manufacturers suggest replacing fill hoses every few years whatever they look like, so check your manual and note the date you fitted the current ones.
Dye test the toilets
Add a few drops of food colouring to each toilet cistern and don't flush for 20 minutes. If colour appears in the bowl, the flush valve or flapper is letting water through. It's a cheap part and a silent leak can run day and night.
Season by season
Autumn: get ready for the heating
- Bleed the radiators. Run the heating, let it cool, then check each radiator for a cold band across the top. Open the bleed valve with a radiator key and a cloth underneath until water appears, then close it.
- Check the pressure afterwards. Bleeding drops the system pressure on a sealed system. Top up via the filling loop as your boiler manual describes. If pressure keeps dropping, or radiators stay cold at the bottom, our radiator cleaning and combi boiler care hub explains what's going on.
- Lag exposed pipes in lofts, garages and under floors, and fit a jacket to any cold water tank.
- Close the indoor isolating valve for outside taps, open the outside tap to drain it, and fit an insulated cover.
- Clear leaves from gullies and drain covers outside before they turn to sludge.
Winter: watch and respond
- Set frost protection on the boiler or thermostat and use the snowflake setting on radiator valves in unused rooms.
- During a cold snap, keep the heating ticking over at a low temperature rather than off, and open the doors of sink cupboards on outside walls.
- Know where the condensate pipe runs outside a condensing boiler, and how to thaw it with warm water if the boiler locks out.
- Check the loft once during the coldest spell for frost on pipes or the tank.
Our full guide to protecting pipes from freezing has the pre-winter checklist and the burst-pipe emergency steps.
Spring: inspect after the cold
- Gutters and downpipes. Clear them, check the joints, and make sure each downpipe empties into a gully or drain rather than against a wall, where it soaks the brickwork.
- Outside taps. Reopen the isolating valve slowly, then run the tap while someone watches the inside wall where the pipe comes through. A split from winter often shows up only now.
- Look for frost damage along any pipes in unheated spaces: white crusting, green staining or damp patches.
- Lift outside drain covers and check that water runs freely through the chamber.
Summer: the quiet season
- Book the annual boiler service now. Engineers are generally less busy in warm months, and you'll go into autumn knowing the boiler is sound.
- Before a holiday, consider closing the main stopcock if you'll be away for more than a few days. Check your boiler and water heater instructions first, since some shouldn't be left running without a water supply.
- Watch outside taps for drips during hosepipe season; a worn washer wastes water quietly all summer.
Once a year
Professional boiler service
Have the boiler serviced every year by a qualified engineer. For a gas boiler that means someone holding the registration or licence your country requires for gas work; oil and other fuels have their own schemes. The engineer should check combustion and safety devices, clean what needs cleaning and give you a written record. Keep it, because many manufacturer warranties depend on an unbroken service history.
Sealant around baths and showers
Look closely at the silicone where the bath or shower tray meets the wall. Gaps, peeling edges, black mould that won't clean off and a bead that moves when you press it all mean water can get behind it. Cut the old sealant out completely, clean and dry the joint, and run a fresh bead. Fill the bath with water first so it sits at its lowest point while the sealant cures.
A walk round the visible pipework
With a torch, follow every pipe you can see: airing cupboard, boiler cupboard, under the stairs. Green or white crust at a joint suggests a slow weep. Loose pipe clips cause knocking. If you have an unvented hot water cylinder, look at the small funnel (tundish) on its discharge pipe; water running through it, or a hot pipe there, is a reason to call a qualified engineer promptly.
Keep a one-page log
A simple record makes every job easier, and it's useful to a plumber and to a future buyer. Note the date of each task, boiler pressure readings, meter readings from each leak test, when hoses and washers were replaced and when the boiler was last serviced. A sheet taped inside the boiler cupboard door works perfectly well.
Daniel Okafor
Daniel looks after the seasonal side of a home – winter-proofing pipes, hard water, maintenance calendars – and the practical business of hiring a tradesperson you can trust.
General guidance only. Gas, electrical and structural work must be done by a suitably qualified person, and rules differ from country to country.
