Water leak through ceiling light fitting - what next?

sa3999

Hello everyone and festive season's best wishes to you all....

I need some advice on next steps for a water leak.

I had water leak from an upstairs shower through a ceiling light fitting into the lounge below two days ago. I have three very young daughters who were playing and showering at the same time...(never again !!). There was a constant drip of water through the light fitting and when I spotted it I immediately turned the light circuit off at the main consumer unit and also turned off the shower. The light fitting & wires were then thoroughly dried with a hair dryer.

I contacted my insurers and they advised me to call the home emergency number which I duly did. Their plumber arrived today and after 15 mins of checking and running the shower he was not able to trace the source of the leak nor did any water drip through to the lounge below - the space beneath the shower tray was dry. He did not look into the space between the bathroom floor and the lounge ceiling on the grounds that nothing was leaking and this would require holes being cut into the lounge ceiling which was not necessary as nothing was leaking.

After he departed, I left the shower running for a good 30 minutes and everything in the lounge was bone dry - no sign of a leak anywhere.

I have a few questions that I would be grateful for some advice on:

1. Is it sensible to assume that the leak was a temporary thing caused by the kids? We've never had a problem before. Should I get the lounge ceiling cut away to make sure?
   
2. Should I get the electrics checked? The insurers said it was not necessary as part of the policy and was something that I might choose to have done. The lights are working OK.
   
3. Should I pursue a claim? The obvious damage is very minor with a slight fraying of the plasterboard around the light fitting which I think can be fixed very easily. Obviously, I don't want to lose my NCB.
   
4. The insurance policy expires in 25 days. I will almost certainly change insurers based on whoever offers me the best deal. What happens if the leak recurs and I have changed to a different insurance company?

I want to make sure I'm not storing up trouble for the future.

Many thanks in advance.

BobQ

Well if you cannot reproduce the problem it seems likely that your kids were using the shower in an unusual way. May be you need to ask them? For example were they running the shower with the door open and how wet was the floor before they mopped it up and told you about it?

If it was my house I would get an electrian to test the installation.

If I could not reproduce the problem I think I would not change insurers but renew the policy to ensure that if there was a recurrence they did not have a get out.

mikey72

sa3999 wrote: »

............................Should I pursue a claim? The obvious damage is very minor with a slight fraying of the plasterboard around the light fitting which I think can be fixed very easily. Obviously, I don't want to lose my NCB.

I think you may have already lost it by calling out the plumber. You will need to declare that.
Any further claim will be normally against your current insurer, but it could be easier to stay with the existing one.