Flood!

[Captain Jack]

What a lovely weekend, I've had. Got up early Saturday morning, drove up north to collect some bits and bobs for my "other hobby" (satellite TV - 1.8m dish, anyone?) and was planning on spending the weekend working on them...

The universe had other plans. Came home to a shower streaming from the ceiling, with at least an inch of water on the laminate floor in the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and some spilling into the conservatory. Yay... The leak came from a flexible pipe feeding the sink tap in the en-suite, which had burst - it's been like it for at least a few hours, since Mrs_CJ was also out that afternoon.

The water was literally scooped out with a brush pan, with the rest being soaked up nicely into the laminate panels, which are now bulging. The wallpaper on the walls is bubbling with the ceiling also showing signs of damage - obviously, as that's where the water was pouring in from! Thankfully, the TV equipment in the corner of the living room was spared - mainly because the electrics tripped.

Central heating has been running since Saturday afternoon with two dehumidifiers at full blast and most of the place is now more or less dry, though I can still hear the water sloshing when walking in the living room. Clearly, it's just sat under the laminate on top of the protective membrane, not going anywhere.

Have contacted my insurer (LV), who are to send out an assessor to er... assess the damage. Kinda dreading them to come in, see everything dry and say "I can't see any damage, mate". From what I can see, we need a new floor in the living and dining rooms (kind of an open plan thing). Walls stripped of wallpaper and redone and ceiling at the very least sanded down and repainted.

Anyone made a similar claim? What should I expect?

[steve_earwig]

I've not had a similar experience (thankfully) but I'm well aware of the mess it leaves. Not nice at all.

Good luck with the insurers! Expect some wriggling

[Welly]

Oh dear, really sorry to hear that mate. I've not had to deal with anything similar but know someone who has and they often go to surprising lengths to fix things up; they tend to use a 'disaster recovery' team who deal with all the work required. The ceiling is likely to be replaced in part or entirely with new plasterboard and the skirtings/architraves will be wet and swollen at the bottom edge....these may be replaced which'll see some plaster repairs to the lower half of the walls.

What's under the laminate? concrete screed or wood? if it's modern it's likely to have wooden chip board T&G planks over insulation - which'll be wet.

Could turn into quite a big claim, but don't worry about it, that's what the insurance is for. In my experience they don't tend to do a 'patch up' job like you would yourself rather they 'replace with new'.

Let us know what goes....

[Doggy]

Hope you get it sorted out as painlessly as possible.

I would be tempted to get rid of any flexible connectors / hoses carrying mains pressure, if at all possible.
I know it's a different situation, but our water systems risk assessment has identified these as needing to be removed to get rid of the potential for harbouring bugs.

[Captain Jack]

Well, the assessor is coming out next week to do his thing - was hoping it would be quicker but they need everything dry before checking for damage. Which sort of makes sense. Have asked for more dehumidifiers to be supplied - so waiting to hear back now.

Yeah, those flexi hoses seem like a good idea as they are easier to fit but obviously nowhere near as reliable as traditional copper pipes.

[Captain Jack]

Blah... Had a drying guy come out to install dehumidifiers... only that he didn't, on the account of that the tiles that sit under the laminate in the living room may contain asbestos. And if that dries and cracks - we may be in trouble. So he took a sample to analyse and should hear back early next week. So, the whole floor downstairs may need to come up if it does contain asbestos (house is from July 1970).

He spent an hour poking walls, ceilings and floors with his moisture metre gizmo and basically said everything is wet. Oh well...

[steve_earwig]

Oh ffs Shirley it can't be healthy to stay in there, even if that's not asbestos the fact that it'll take time because of all the research means you'll be living in Castle Mildew. Is it worth asking the insurers if they'll stump up for a hotel? I know it's taking the pišš but if Welly's right then you have them over a barrel for a change.

[Captain Jack]

Well, unless the tiles are cracked, the asbestos is unlikely to have been released (in theory?). And they are all covered by some membrane anyway...

It's not that wet here now - much better than a few days ago. I am just hoping it will all get sorted sooner, rather than later

[steve_earwig]

I'd be dubious about that membrane if water got past it.

Had a drying guy come out to install dehumidifiers... only that he didn't...
He spent an hour poking walls, ceilings and floors with his moisture metre gizmo and basically said everything is wet.

I'm still having trouble with you staying in a damp house while they do tests and don't actually do anything about it. It's up to you I guess but I'm starting to think you wouldn't really be taking the pišš to demand alternative accommodation.

[Captain Jack]

I did ask about alternative accommodation but he said that insurance companies tend not to rehouse anyone if we have access to a kitchen and a toilet... I could moan about it but it's really not as bad as it's made out to be.

[PeterN]

We have had several leaks here over the years as our well water is very acidic and eats through the fittings/tanks. Fortunately I have never had one as bad as yours but we did arrive home one day with water pouring through the living room ceiling just as some B&B guests arrived, I sat them down and made them a drink with a couple of buckets by the side of them catching the water - anyway they stayed. The water had also come through the ceiling of the room above, another B&B room, fortunately not occupied.

The problem was the elbow connecting the cold feed to the ball valve in the tank had completely split in half. Fortunately I had one in stock so normal service was quickly resumed. We then set about cleaning the place up. We have had as I mentioned several leaks over the years but have never mad a claim on our insurance in the 52 years we have owned a house as we wanted it sorted out now not in a weeks time, we should be OK if the house burns down though.

Peter

[DaiRees]

Sounds like a nightmare Alex. Our house had those vinyl floor tiles throughout the downstairs, I smashed the lot up myself many years ago when tiling the kitchen and bathroom and laminating everything else. Didn't even consider that they may be dangerous and in fact only recently found out that there was a potential that they could have contained asbestos. Oh well eh?

We've got a leak in my son's bedroom at the moment, he was woken up a few nights ago by the sound of dripping, I assume he then turned the light on and the bulb shattered. No damage or anything, just currently got a bowl in the middle of the floor and getting quotes to replace the flat roof. Weirdly it hasn't dripped again since despite some torrential rain but I've been up for a look and it's definitely knackered, can see where the felt has cracked and feel that the boards are wet underneath, so it needs replacing

[PeterN]

I thought with our problem using plastic pipe might be the answer as much of it already is, but we called in to see people a while back and there bedroom ceiling was down, the cause? a mouse had chewed through a plastic fitting leaving a fine spray of water over the plaster board.

Peter

[Welly]

The floor tiles sound like 'Marley' tiles which were popular in the 1970's and very often acted as the damp proof layer on top of the floor screed (these days the DPL in under an insulation layer).

The Marley tiles are not 'dangerous' to work with in the way that most people associate with Azzy but were known to contain very small amounts of it (as were those black plastic Toilet Seats and Cisterns you used to see). Question is what will the insurers do? they may order them to be removed by a licensed contractor (£££££) and then cover the bitumen left behind with a self-levelling screed (a few mm thick) or they may simply leave them in place, they are safe to be around in normal use after all.

I guess you're kinda stuck until they get back with a plan, if asbestos was 'being released' because of the damage it's a different story but you're only damage so far is dampness; which in itself is very unpleasant.

Hope it all works out ok, to me the fact the assessor raised concerns already proves that the claim will be dealt with in a commercial way rather than a patch-up and make do. To be fair you could end up with a very nicely refurbished downstairs all you'll be asked to do is pick colours and finishes.

I'd quite like to live in a Premier Inn for a month although I'd be mostly found in the Bar if anyone wanted me

[Captain Jack]

A refurbished downstairs, which isn't that old anyway, is the only positive to come out of it. This wasn't even an assessor, just a drier guy with his opinion... Was quite nice that he was honest about all the issues, which he will no doubt feed back to the insurers.