North London has some of the trickiest homes we fit softeners in, and some of the easiest. A first-floor flat in a Highbury conversion and a detached house in Mill Hill are very different jobs, even though the water coming into them is equally hard. So rather than a generic pitch, here's what we actually look at when we come to survey a home north of the river.
Your water supplier
Thames Water supplies most of North London. Affinity Water supplies parts of the outer north and north-west, including around Harrow, and it's not always obvious where one stops and the other starts. The name on your water bill settles it.
Much of the inner north is fed from the Lee Valley, the chain of reservoirs that runs up through Walthamstow and beyond, alongside water from the Thames. Both start out as chalk-country water, which is why it arrives hard. Thames Water's water quality checker and Affinity Water's hardness page will give you the figure for your postcode. We'll also test it on the day, because we set the softener up for what's actually coming out of your tap.
Period conversions and flats
Islington, Camden, Kentish Town, Stoke Newington and Crouch End are full of big Victorian houses split into two, three or four flats. They're lovely places to live and slightly fiddly places to plumb. A few things we check:
- Where your supply comes in. In a conversion, the pipe to an upper flat often climbs through the building before it reaches you. The softener has to go on your branch, after your own stopcock, so we trace it first.
- Water pressure on the upper floors. Softeners need a reasonable flow to regenerate properly. Top-floor flats sometimes have weak mains pressure, and we'll measure it rather than guess.
- Space. Galley kitchens in conversions rarely have a spare cupboard. A compact under-sink unit is the usual answer. Occasionally the best spot is a hallway cupboard or the space beside the washing machine.
- Your lease. If you're a leaseholder, have a quick look at whether you need the freeholder's consent for plumbing changes. It's usually straightforward, but it's better to know before the day.
Houses in the outer north
Head out towards Finchley, Southgate, Edgware, Mill Hill and Harrow and the picture changes. Much of this is interwar housing built as the Underground pushed outwards: 1930s semis with a kitchen at the back, often extended, and frequently a garage or utility room. That gives us room for a slightly larger softener, which suits bigger families with two bathrooms on the go at once.
Plenty of these houses still have a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard. Hard water scales up the cylinder's heating coil and any immersion heater, so it takes longer to heat a tank and the immersion element can fail early. A softener stops that build-up getting any worse. If yours has a combi instead, the issue moves to the heat exchanger inside the boiler, but the cause is the same. And yes, electric showers suffer too. If you're weighing up a cheaper scale reducer instead, our honest comparison of softeners and scale reducers is worth five minutes.
The hard drinking tap
Every softener we fit in North London comes with its own unsoftened drinking tap at the kitchen sink. We tee it off the mains before the softener, so you get ordinary tap water for the kettle, cooking and baby bottles. Softened water carries extra sodium, and with water as hard as North London's we'd rather keep it out of drinks. In a conversion with one small sink, a combined tap can do both jobs from one hole.
Travelling north
From Chiswick we usually come up the North Circular or across on the A40 and Marylebone Road, depending on where you are. Inner boroughs like Islington, Camden and Hackney's northern edge are mostly controlled parking, so a visitor permit or a note about parking helps. Further out, driveways make life easy.
Areas we cover in North London
- Islington, Highbury and Holloway
- Camden Town, Kentish Town and Primrose Hill
- Hampstead, Belsize Park and West Hampstead
- Highgate, Archway and Tufnell Park
- Crouch End, Muswell Hill and Hornsey
- Stoke Newington and Finsbury Park
- Tottenham and Wood Green
- Finchley, East Finchley and Hendon
- Barnet, Mill Hill and Edgware
- Southgate, Palmers Green and Enfield
- Kilburn, Willesden and Wembley
- Harrow, Pinner and Stanmore
Everything else inside the M25 is covered too. Have a look at the full list of areas.
North London FAQs
Can you fit a water softener in an upstairs flat in a converted house?
In most cases, yes. We trace where your own supply enters the flat and fit the softener on your side of your stopcock, usually under the kitchen sink. We also check the mains pressure, because upper-floor flats sometimes have weak flow. If the plumbing makes it impractical, we'll say so at the survey rather than on installation day.
Is North London water supplied by Thames Water or Affinity Water?
Mostly Thames Water, but Affinity Water supplies parts of outer north and north-west London, including around Harrow. Your water bill shows which company supplies you, and both have postcode lookups for hardness. Either way, the water is hard, so the supplier mainly matters for finding the right postcode lookup.
Will a softener help my hot water cylinder?
It stops new limescale forming on the cylinder's coil and immersion heater, which is where hard water does most of its damage in a vented or unvented system. It won't remove heavy scale that's already there, so an old, badly scaled cylinder may still need attention. Fitting a softener after a new cylinder or boiler goes in keeps it cleaner for longer.
Where to go from here
For a step-by-step look at the process, see our installation page. Already got one? Our servicing page covers yearly checks and repairs, and how often to service a softener explains why a yearly visit is worth it. Not sure your water's hard enough to bother? Here's how to check. Or just fill in the form below for a free survey.