Burst pipe major damage - how long to repair?

olibrofiz

As it says really anyone any idea what sort of time scale we're looking at for repairing major water damage from a burst pipe? Wasn;t sure where to ask.

My poor mum had to move out of her house yesterday due to the damage and, at 82, she really wants to be back in her own home ASAP.

We're talking wet carpets throughout the house, wallpaper coming off upstairs, damp beds & bedding, ceilings fallen in, electrics (?), kitchen ceiling damaged etc, etc

Add to all this she's the key holder for her neighbours (similar age) who are in Oz over xmas - same afternoon their pipes also burst (neighbours had to get the police to break in) their house is saturated.

Nightmare, very stressful. Any idea anyone? Thank you

G_M

Repairing the pipes? Depends how bad the break is, how accesible it is, and how busy plumbers are at present (.....!?).
Also whether there are delays due to insurance claim.

But then there's asociated damage. Depends how much water escaped, where, and what it damaged. A really sodden property can take months to dry out before redecoration is possible.

So without a lot more info no one can answer your question.

olibrofiz

Sorry, still a bit shocked by it all. The plumber located & replaced the burst pipe and fixed it (he arrived within 20 mins), fuses taken out of the box so there's power to the downstairs sockets and boiler's on to try and help dry things out.

The burst pipe was above the bedrooms - 2 floors, 3 bedroomed semi. The loss assessor has been in touch and I'm meeting with him on 7th Jan, in the meantime a company is supposed to be getting in touch with me regards putting drying machines in.

Next door is much worse as the burst pipe wasn't noticed immediately and wallpaper on ALL walls and ceilings is 'bubbled' up, add to that the saturated carpets.

Wings

I once had a header tank burst, even with dryers, the house took months to both dry out, decorate and make inhabitable.

natlol

Your poor mom, hope she is ok. It sounds like you have done all you can do and contacted the insurance. If you wanted to speed things up you could hire some industrial dehumidifiers / heaters to help it dry out quicker.

It sounds like the burst pipe was in the loft so might be worth making sure that the pipes are all lagged properly - especially as it has now been repaired and water restored. May also be worth getting up the soaking insulation and replacing that as well.

Hope things get sorted quickly for you.

olibrofiz

Thank you. The insurance co are supposed to be arranging dehumidifiers etc, just waiting to hear from them.

The burst pipe was in the loft, and was lagged and covered in rockwool (?) - that's now hanging through the ceiling - we HAVE left the loft door off so that heat from the house is going up there. So hopefully things will be ok, all things crossed.

Does the house have to be dried out completely before plasterboard ceilings are replaced? Likewise plastering & floors? Just thinking my mum would be happy to live with that and have it decorated as and when it was deemed appropriate.

I'm not trying to move her out btw, just want to give her some comfort & hope & a ball park estimate

poppysarah

From start to finish including several arguments with insurers took my friends about 4-5 months.
But they did try to skimp on replacing carpet so she had kept samples (and had all reciepts luckily to back it up) of all carpets that had been thrown cos they were stinky (Sample so can match content material and fibre count)

And they (insurers) had to pay for decorator to do it all themselves - they wanted to give her the money to get someone to do it - but she put her foot down... which worked well cos that way the insurers had the hassle of organising decorating.

olibrofiz

Thank you all. I just feel so sorry for mum's neighbours as well - when they come back from Oz they'll have it all to sort out and they're older than my mum. I'm hoping they can give me authorisation to get things rolling (or is that a bad idea?)

dizziblonde

Happened to my in-laws last year in the cold snap (December time I believe) - ceiling down in three rooms etc. They finally moved back in the week of the World Cup final (so July ish). They were away and their neighbour was a godsend helping out so that things like the drying out process was already in progress with the machines in situ before they got back.

lanclass_2

Hi
We had water damage during the Summer. It took us about 5-6 weeks to get sorted. We were lucky in that the plaster was so saturated that it all had to be taken back to the brick so we didn't have to wait as long as we might have for it to dry out. My main tip is see if you can get one of these companies that do everything involved (ie plastering, joinery, decorating). I'm in the North West so if you want any recommendations for that part of the country just say. Looks like we're going through it all again now because we've just had a burst pipe and my utility room looks like a disaster area!

olibrofiz

Thanks all. dehumidifiers are going in on 31st Dec and meeting the loss assessors on 7th Jan. Wish us luck