Drainage & Soakaway insurance claim

Olivia07

Hi,
I am after some help and advice.
I have lived at my house for 6 years now. Sometime ago, possibly 1-2 years i noticed damp appearing along my skirting board line. This quickly rose and got worse and always saturates the walls after a down pour etc.

I haven't done anything before now as life events such as having a baby and being single, haven't allowed me to, but recently after a three week dry hot spell and the walls drying out some, i washed my car on the drive and that evening realised the wall was soaking wet again! Had a light bulb moment and realised the drain on the driveway was at fault for my damp issue.
I called my house insurance and they sent out a loss adjustor to view the problem.
He had a look, saw my wet walls, took some photos and said it was over to me to carry out a process of elimination to find where the water was coming from. But to start with CCTV on the drain- at my own expense - and then he would come back etc.

I got Dynorod out who carried out the CCTV survey and they state that the drain was installed back to front, the gully is blocked and the soak away either has collapsed or is at risk of collapse and immediate action is required!
I have contacted the loss adjustor again, who has refused to revisit my property, instead asked for Dynorod's report to be emailed to him. Fine. I did that and am awaiting his reply.
However, my issue now being that assuming the insurance will cover the digging up my solid cement driveway, replacing said drain and gully and installing new soak away A) the cement driveway is all cracking up due to amount of water underneath it, so am i within my rights to ask for a different type of drive to be put down instead?

Builders have been round and said soak away is too close to the house and needs to be moved - yet Dynorod do not state that in their report. Three separate builders have all said this to me.

And also, the damp is SO bad in my house now that it is 2 feet plus up the walls and goes round the all the walls the length of my through lounge and is showing on adjoining walls in hallway.
All walls are painted plaster and so the water is just soaking up the plaster.
I have been told also by three professionals including Swiftcure -timber and damp work company - that the plaster all needs hacking off to 1.2 metres high, re rendering with water proof membrane and then re plastering. Loss adjustor said today that once drainage work done, then walls will dry out...

If the water has travelled through my concrete solid flooring up to the other end of my house, i would suggest that this is a severe water penetration problem.
Am i within my rights to insist that they provide cover for further investigation or for the plastering work to be done etc?
I have an elderly mother living here and a two year old toddler. Both whose heath will be affected by the damp and the spores!

I am being told that once plaster is wet it becomes infected with spores - Loss adjustor saying not necessarily!!

I am losing the will already and am so confused by it all as have never dealt with insurance claims before!!

Builders are also talking about having to dig up my floors down to 1 foot deep, water proof inside of house, re render re plaster and re decorate... Which means we would have to move out as we only have the one room downstairs....

Ugh!!! It is a nightmare!!!
Any help or advice pleeeease.....

The soak away i am told is also too close to the house... Can i request that it is moved further away? This would mean digging up more of the driveway... And again - not doing like for like replacement with cement.

Help! SOS!!! Lol :j

dacouch

Home Insurance will not pay for moving your drain

Bangton

If installed incorrectly it's classed as faulty workmanship which is not the insurance company's responsibility (as they didn't install it ).

Another concern that they may have is that the damp has been allowed to get to this stage without investigation. As a homeowner you have a responsibility for upkeep which unfortunately you have failed to do even with good reason.

I don't want to cause alarm and I am sorry this has happened but I'd be really surprised if they do much else for you in this circumstance : (

BartSimpson_2

It is highly unlikely that the insurance company will look to cover this damage. I'll highlight the issues and the reasons they're unlikely to cover them below:

* The most important factor is that the reason for the water damage is due to the incorrect installation of the drain. Insurance will not cover poor/faulty workmanship of other companies. Depending on how long ago they were installed you may have a case against the drains company who installed them. Maybe check if you have any Legal cover on the policy and seek some professional advice as to whether you have a case.

* The damage has been going on for 1-2 years. If you have allowed the problem to worsen over time then insurers are very unlikely to cover the claim as they would argue that if you notified them at an earlier opportunity they could have put measures in place to prevent further damage (and therefore reduced the costs of the claim). At best, they may be willing to issue a partial payment as to the amount they felt the claim would have cost if notified at the earliest opportunity.

* You say that the cement driveway is cracking. This can only occur over a long period of time from the driveway getting wet and expanding and then drying out and shrinking again. The insurance company would most likely classify this damage as being 'wear & tear' which is again not covered by the insurance policy.

* You ask if they could replace with something more sturdy. They would not do this as this would be classed as 'betterment'. That is, putting you in a better position than before the loss occurred. This is not allowed, however in the event they did cover the claim you could maybe accept a cash settlement based on the value of the cement drive and look to put your own money towards improving the standard of the drive.

* The walls have been saturated a large number of times. This may have damaged them to the point that they need re-plastering but as per the point above the insurance company would most likely state (and correctly) that had you notified them or looked to investigate/maintain the situation when you first noticed the problem that simply correcting the problem and drying out the walls would have lead to little or no damage at all. The fact you have allowed this to happen repeatedly will not be looked upon favourably.

* If you have been recommended to install a water-proof membrane then again this would be betterment. The insurance company would not pay for any improvements to the quality of the build of the walls.

* If the soakaway has been installed too close to the house then again this would indicate a poor/faulty workmanship problem. As stated in the first point this is not something that your insurance company would look to correct and again another item to point out should you look to claim from the company who installed it.

* The digging up of floors and installing a damp proof course is again a maintenance issue. It isn't the insurance company's responsibility to ensure that your property is maintained and has the correct installations to prevent damage. That is you responsibility as a homeowner.

All in all, unfortunately it doesn't look good from an insurance perspective. But look on the bright side - at least you're getting to the bottom of the issue and are taking the necessary steps to put things right and improve the build of the property. This may seem like a big upheaval and cost at present but will be worth it in the long. If you had left the problem for another 1-2 years things could have been much worse!