crack,stain in ceiling under bathroom

Jupiterx

we bought a 3 floor townhouse over a year ago. There are two bathrooms on the 2nd floor which reside on top of the 1st floor lounge. There was a crack in the ceiling on the 1st floor lounge which has grown over the year and also 2 stains on the celiling. Over the last year, i feel that the exisiting stains have expanded in size and two new stains have appeared. One of the bathrooms has had the grout disintegrate and for a period of a month, there used to be a bit of water on the tiles(which i am sure has gone through the grout). the tiles have started movig around, I showed it to a handyman in december and he said that there was bo cause for alarm, as the only issue was that they had not been laid well.

do you guys think it is a minor problem and i just need to get the bathroom floor fixed and the cracks in the ceiling touched up. and the ceiling repainted? or could i have damaged the joist and the ceiling could potentially cave in if i dont get it fixed asap?

can i get this done via home insurance? (they state that they provide insurance against accidental damage, like if my child pulls down the tv or i knock a whole through the ceiling doing diy)

should i be looking for a plumber or a carpenter or both to get an idea of what to do next? where can i get some good plumber/carpenter who can provide me with honest advice?

is there anything i can do to prevent further damage?

googler

You could look at the pipework in the bathroom to see if there's any leaks.

You could remove tiles, skirting, floorcovering etc. to see if there's evidence of leakage through or around these areas.

Calmly letting cracks get bigger or allowing stains to get larger is just putting your head in the sand, in my view...... as is letting water lie on tilework where you KNOW the grout is faulty. Honestly, is it too much work to keep a spare towel in the bathroom and dry down the tilework after a shower, or squeegee the excess water away from it?

Jupiterx

thanks for the reply.

do you think home insurance can cover this? my home insurance covers even for accidental damage during diy.

billywhizz

I've just had a loss adjuster out for something very similar, leaking around the bath in a shower bath coming through the ceiling. He was very definite that once you fix the problem the joists will dry out and are able to withstand that sort of damage. The ins co would repair the ceiling but will not fix the source of the leak, ie the duff seal around the bath, that was down to us. Yours may be different due to the tiles leaking. We didn't claim as it worked out better to repair ourselves than have the insurance go up, but it did not cost anything to have the guy out, start the claim and have. A chat with him whe he came round. Hth.

googler

Jupiterx wrote: »

do you think home insurance can cover this? my home insurance covers even for accidental damage during diy.

You're the one with the insurance policy. You could read it, and see if it covers you. We can't tell what's in your insurance policy.

I would imagine that there's some clause in it somewhere that requires you to take reasonable care of your home. Attending to the little problems when they arise so that they don't turn into big problems later. Unfortunately, you seem to have been ignoring the physical signs of the problem (stains and cracking) and what you suspect to be the cause of the problem (decayed grout) when you could have had the grout repaired, or could have made further investigation into the source of the problem.

Put me in the loss adjuster's shoes and I'd be on the verge of refusing your claim on these grounds.

Jupiterx

thanks for the replies. Much appreciated!

so you can actually get the loss adjustor from the insurance company out to have a look. and tell the insurance company that you would fix it yourself and the claim does not jack your insurance up?