Leak under the floor fixed, but have some questions??

Crazystar

Hello All,

Long story cut short, I had a leak under the floor(CH pipe leak) which has been fixed by my buildings insurance and I now have few questions around this. Appreciate if you nice people can answer.

1. Buildings insurance are saying that I need to wait till the property is 100% dry(floor and walls) - plaster has been stripped off upto one metre from walls)
Q-> Do I need to really wait till the floor and walls are 100% dry? Couple of builders who came to look at said they can start the work and its no required for it to 100% dry. I am using my own contractors.

2. Shall I put a wooden floor or I am better off with a carpet? I feel carpet is better as the wet patch will be easily visible if I have a leak in the future. Any opinions?

3. What can I do in future to immediately identify the leak in the concrete floor? It took months for me to identify the current leak as the floor had tiles and it got identified only when the walls started showing damp.

4. How much it might cost me to reroute the CH pipes on the floor leaving the pipes under the floor untouched(no digging)?

Thanks in Advance
Sam

bouicca21

OMG are you me? I am also living with a concrete floor and plaster hacked off the walls ...

I have left it to the insurers to project manage - that actually makes progress slow but I figure the loss adjuster knows more about choosing good builders than I do. The pipes have been repaired but like yours they are saying it all has to be dry before they start the next stage of repairs. The builders who gave the second quote said the same. The guy I called in when it all first happened said the same. Given the unanimity I am inclined to believe them.

I now know, rather too late, that if the boiler keeps losing pressure, there is probably a leak.

As for the new floor ... the leak was not immediately apparent - the water wasn't visible but was being soaked up by the skirting boards and plaster. I was taken aback to be told by everyone, including the loss adjuster, that my wooden floor cannot be repaired. Carpet with thresholds between rooms could obviously be partially replaced (if you can find a match).

I don't think carpet or wood will make any difference in identifying a problem in the future. Go for what you actually want.

hazyjo

When I had a leak in a tank in my bathroom (and the kitchen ceiling collapsed! :eek:), I had to have a dehumidifier in the bathroom and under the floorboards (I think). You think it's dry, but there was tonnes of water still coming out!


The upstairs was fine, but where it had dripped down over time, it was in the skirting boards, walls and doorframe. You wouldn't know, but then about a year or so later, when it was really sunny and hot, there was this almighty crack where the skirting board, frame, etc split where it expanded I think. Happened every summer and was quite bad by the time I had to sell. The paper had shrunk too. Was all hidden behind furniture, but I did tell the buyers.


Jx

thesaint

The walls need to be dry for the job to be done properly.
How long do you think the plaster will take to dry if it is put on wet walls?

G_M

Crazystar wrote: »

1.
Q-> Do I need to really wait till the floor and walls are 100% dry? Yes

2. Shall I put a wooden floor or I am better off with a carpet? I feel carpet is better as the wet patch will be easily visible if I have a leak in the future. Put what you want

3. What can I do in future to immediately identify the leak in the concrete floor? If you have a condensing boiler, as bouicca says, loss of pressure. If gravity system, listen for the header tank topping up?

4. How much it might cost me to reroute the CH pipes on the floor leaving the pipes under the floor untouched(no digging)?

Get 2 or 3 plumbers in and ask.

Crazystar

Boucia22, Sorry you are in the same boat as me...How long are you drying your property?

Thanks All for the replies. Some clarifications:

1. I have a standard boiler and an overhead tank so it does not loose pressure. The only way for me to find the leak is when the skirting boards are wet or the carpet shows a wet patch.

2. We are drying the property(with industrial dehumidifiers and air blowers) for 2 months now and the readings that came today say except one area the property is 100% dry. A small area where the leak was more is reading 258. Anything below 200 is 100% dry(as per drying contractors)

3. Why you think wooden or carpet does not make any difference, In my opinion the advantages of carpet over wooden floor wrt to leak are

- Carpet will show the wet patch fairly quickly
- Carpet can be easily lifted and the leak can be fixed. Carpet once dried can be reused if undamaged.

One additional Question?

Can the water leaking from the CH pipe cause the salts deposition on walls? My insurance says the water from CH pipes does not cause salts on walls but I read from sites that water when mixed with plaster causes salts, Can you please clarify?

Thanks
Sam

bouicca21

The reason I don't think wood or carpet matters is that in my case there was no sign of actual water. The skirting boards and plaster showed what I now know to be signs of water, but it was only months later in the midst of visits from loss adjuster and builders that the wooden floor started to pinch and lift just a little.

I have at least another month before the repairs can start. I don't have drying equipment as they said this would damage my wooden furniture.

Crazystar

Yes, I dont want to wait till months to detect a leak and hence wondering if there is a way to detect leak as early as possible. Is there a way?

camptownraces

If you want to detect a leak in CH pipes quicker next time, don't have the pipes under the floorboards or embedded in a concrete floor. Have those pipes rerouted so that they are round the walls, and don't knock them with the vacuum cleaner.

Crazystar

Thanks camptownraces. It looks like thats the only solution...