Replumbing costs and home insurance questions

tiggerkid

Hi all,

I have 2 separate questions and would be grateful for some insights.
We have an issue with pipe leaks. Water stains started showing up on one of the internal walls in the kitchen. Initially thought it was rising damp but then plumbers advised that it's likely to be leaking pipes eroded away by underfloor concrete in which they were set. Some of them also said that the issue is possibly down to the fact that in 1970s-80s there was some copper shortage during which house builders used other materials, which are not as good as copper, so wouldn't last as long. Now the plumbers are saying that the optimal solution to this issue is to replumb the entire house.

My questions are:

1) does anyone have a ballpark estimate for this type of work (I know this is difficult to do, so I am after a ballpark range estimate rather than pounds and pence). We are in a 4-bed house built in early 70s.
2) is this issue likely to be considered as standard wear and tear by our home insurance provider? Especially if plumbers do confirm that in their professional opinion substandard materials were used instead of copper?

Many thanks in advance to all experts out there! Fantastic forum. So much useful advice and all kept polite and civil unlike many others I've seen in the past!

Rain_Shadow

tiggerkid wrote: »

Many thanks in advance to all experts out there! Fantastic forum. So much useful advice and all kept polite and civil unlike many others I've seen in the past!

Never, ever, be tempted to ask anything on the 'Motoring' board.

cyclonebri1

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

Never, ever, be tempted to ask anything on the 'Motoring' board.

Aggressive and ignorant so and so's on there, best avoided.

tiggerkid

Haha, thanks for the warning

Plumber90

Your location plays a big part, also how many radiators, bathrooms is there?

phill99

As someone that does this everyday, your term 'replumb' needs clarification.


Which pipes are believed to be leaking? Incoming mains? Cold water to kitchen, bathroom etc. Hot water to kitchen, bath etc? Central heating?




The materials are not sub standard. There are thousands of houses in the UK where galvinised steel, or aluminium was used. Anything could have happened over the years - slight settlement, causing weaping of joints etc.


Your insurance isn't there to cover non-standard material use or poor installation. If that was the case, insurance would just be used for routine maintenance and premiums, as a result, unaffordable. You need to get other opinions. Plumbers may not have all the answers!!

tiggerkid

phill99 wrote: »

As someone that does this everyday, your term 'replumb' needs clarification.


Which pipes are believed to be leaking? Incoming mains? Cold water to kitchen, bathroom etc. Hot water to kitchen, bath etc? Central heating?




The materials are not sub standard. There are thousands of houses in the UK where galvinised steel, or aluminium was used. Anything could have happened over the years - slight settlement, causing weaping of joints etc.


Your insurance isn't there to cover non-standard material use or poor installation. If that was the case, insurance would just be used for routine maintenance and premiums, as a result, unaffordable. You need to get other opinions. Plumbers may not have all the answers!!

I am unsure as to which pipes are leaking but will try to describe how the issue was identified. Essentially, we have wet patches at the bottom of one of the internal walls in the kitchen. At first, I thought it might have been rising damp but on speaking to someone, who does building and plumbing work, was told that it's unlikely to be rising damp, especially not at this time of year. Looking at the symptom so to speak, the guy said it's more likely that some underfloor pipes are leaking and because the floor is tiled, there is nowhere for the water to escape, so wall appears to be the nearest place for the water to go. He expects that at least some of the pipes are near that wall. The wall has a doorway into the dining area and the dining area has 2 radiators. This seems logical as any pipes laid in the kitchen would need to come through that doorway to connect to radiators in the dining room. The boiler is also in the kitchen.

We also had a builder come in but the builder is convinced that the issue we have is rising damp and said that we need to knock down and rebuild the wall, which would cost us over £3K.

I then had 2 plumbers coming in, who also thought it was a pipe leak problem. One of them said that dealing with the issue is above his capability and said that we should call our insurance company.

The 2nd plumber said that it's a pipe leak and the house needs replumbing/repiping. This one was convinced that the upstairs would be separate and wouldn't need doing, i.e. he thought it's the downstairs pipes.

To be honest, at this stage, I am quite confused by all these opinions. Especially because the builder seems to think it's rising damp. The plumbers seem to think it's a pipe leak. It feels as if each of them is looking at the issue from the standpoint of their profession, a bit like "I have a hammer, therefore every problem is a nail". And I am not competent enough in either building or plumbing area to make my own conclusions.

All I know is that if it is a pipe leak, then rebuilding the wall at a cost of over £3K doesn't sound like a solution to the problem. Similarly, if it's rising damp, replumbing the house isn't going to do anything for that.

So I am here trying to get some indepedent views and advice from people, who are more competent than I am in this area

tiggerkid

Plumber90 wrote: »

Your location plays a big part, also how many radiators, bathrooms is there?

I am in Buckinghamshire. We have 2 bathrooms. 15 radiators in total (please don't ask why; I don't even know why we have that many because the house is not massive but we have multiple small radiators in some rooms instead of 1 of decent size).

Thank you.

silvercar

I can help you with the insurance question.

Check your policy to see if it covers 'track and trace'; this means that they will cover the costs of finding out where the problem lies. So digging up areas of floor would be covered. The majority of insurers, though not all, will cover this.

Some insurers will cover the cost of making good afterwards, again not all.

So it could be that the costs of finding the problem and tidying up afterwards will be covered, but not the actual problem as that would be wear and tear or general maintenance.

Obviously you need to get to the bottom of where the water is coming from first. I would speak to the insurers.

FreeBear

tiggerkid wrote: »

We also had a builder come in but the builder is convinced that the issue we have is rising damp and said that we need to knock down and rebuild the wall, which would cost us over £3K.

I then had 2 plumbers coming in, who also thought it was a pipe leak problem. One of them said that dealing with the issue is above his capability and said that we should call our insurance company.

The 2nd plumber said that it's a pipe leak and the house needs replumbing/repiping. This one was convinced that the upstairs would be separate and wouldn't need doing, i.e. he thought it's the downstairs pipes.

If it is a leaking pipe, then a pressure test will confirm this. However, not all plumbers know how to do pressure tests or have the equipment to do it.

IF, and it is a big if, there is a case of rising damp (which is highly unlikely on an internal wall), it would mean the damp proof course has been compromised. On external walls, this usually means a build up of soil above the DPC or a leaking gutter/downpipe.