Help new shower has brought down the kitchen ceiling

lucy2308

Can anyone advise the best course of action for me.

I have just had a full new bathroom fitted and the kitchen ceiling has come down!!!!

The plumber used a flexi pipe fitting under the shower which leaked where the flexi part meets the solid plastic part.

The plumber is time served and a friend doing a freebie for me so I have no wish to fall out. He has made good the fault however I am left with a gaping hole in my kitchen ceiling.

Can I claim my insurance or should I pursue the firm that sold me the Flexi pipe as it does look to me as its not fit for purpose.

Ps my Insurance Company is M&S premier policy.

Thanks

bouncydog1

Your insurer should cover the cost of the damage under your policy but this will be a claim and may impact future premiums. Take into account that you will also have to pay the excess if one applies.

It might be best to get a quote for putting right the damage which will presumably be plaster board, fixing and painting? After that you can decide whether to claim or pay to fix yourself.

Think you would have a hard job pursuing the manufacturers and a claim would only be likely to succeed if they had many claims of the same nature for the same product.

Unfortunately this is one of the pitfalls of using friends for work - a friend fitted a carpet for us at a reduced labour cost some years ago. Unfortunately he hit a central heating pipe when fixing the grip rods to the floor. The cost of the excess to claim for the damage and new carpet far outweighed the additional cost for fitting we would have paid the supplier - lesson learned!

suehippo

I agree with BouncyDog get a quote first as it didn't cost us that much when a similar thing happened to us. Plasterboard is cheap as chips so the only real cost if the plasterer. Hopefully you can paint it yourself. If the cost is a lot more than your insurance excess then make a claim but remember this will likely push up future premiums when it comes to renewal.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Agree with bouncydog,doubt you'd be able to claim against the flexi-pipe.
Hate to say this but your insurer will probably make a claim against your friend,they'll also look at the flexi-pipe anyway to see that it is'nt substandard.
This happened with my brother who moved into a brand new house and had the same problem,the shower brought the ceiling down.
They paid out but claimed against the builder,it seems they always do this if the fault is caused by someone/thing else.