Water leak help

carotearoa

I came down to water all over my kitchen floor, leaking through the ceiling.

We turned the water off (which stopped the leak), drilled a small hole in the ceiling to let the pooled water out, and looked under bath panel to rule out the bathroom as the source. We then turned water back on and the leak resumed, so turned it off and left it off for good that night.

We have BG Homecare 3, so I called them and they sent someone round first thing the next morning (we have a small baby). They eliminated the boiler and central heating system as the source, as the man said the pressure was too high for there to be a leak. He released some of the pressure and they then called for DynoRod to come. DynoRod were very good and spent the whole afternoon with us, cutting panels out of the ceiling and trying to trace the source, but sadly all to no avail. Turning the water back on now doesn't resume the leak either...

So now I have a big hole in my ceiling and we're using the water as usual, but turning it off overnight or if we leave the house for a long time just in case. So basically a sitting duck, waiting for a leak! Yay...

My Homecare agreement covers the cost of 'making good' the damage so should cover repairing the ceiling hole when it's all over (or when we get bored of waiting). That means to date, I haven't informed my house insurance of the leak. My question is (and sorry for the lengthy post to get here!) - should the leak resume and do some real damage, would I get into trouble for not having informed them at this stage? I assume I only need to notify them of an issue when it does enough damage that I would need to claim for it.

I'm just really worried that weeks down the line the leak still won't have reappeared, so we will close it all up, but then it will be there somewhere, slowly destroying my house

FutureGirl

You will need to check the policy with BG Homecare, as it might only cover making good the damage they make 'if they find a leak'.

What will you need to claim for, from your home insurance? Depending on your cover that will only cover any water damage (usually with an excess of £250+) and/or the cost of tracing the leak, and accessing the leak (but not fixing it)

If you're going to claim for water damage, the longer you leave it to claim, the less likely the home insurer will cover it, as the longer it's left wet the worse the damage can get IE can start to mould etc.

Your home insurance won't cover any gradual damage.

Do you think there are more investigations that could be carried out in to where the leak is/was? If so, you should investigate them.

Jackmydad

What is it a house, a flat, or something else?
Plumbing leaks could be from anywhere, but they don't usually stop without repair.
Water from leaks can run a long way along woodwork and so on before "appearing"
If they are plumbing leaks there are only certain places they can come from. Where there is plumbing!
It hadn't been torrential rain that night had it?
Just a thought.

Geoff1963

Do you have a water meter ? If so, can you spend a long time ( several hours ) with the water turned on, but not using any, and see if the water meter clocks any flow ? If it doesn't, there can't be a big leak.

Can you somehow get a plan of where all the pipes go around the house ? Then you'll know where to look for the wetness. It must of course be from somewhere level with, or above, the kitchen ceiling ; and knowing where the pipes run, should help narrow it down.

carotearoa

Thank you very much for your replies everyone. Sadly, it's a grade 2 listed 4 storey townhouse, which makes tracing the leak particularly difficult. It's 300 years old and all a bit higgledy piggledy, so makes pipe tracing particularly difficult. We did wonder about the rain, but the walls are about a foot deep, so it doesn't seem likely.

Re. the insurance question - currently there is nothing we would claim for, but I was thinking more if the leak resumed with a vengeance and properly flooded the kitchen, there'd be much more damage. We are being diligent about turning the water off when we leave the house though, to avoid a leak taking us by surprise.

Will check with British Gas, but they have certainly found evidence of a leak (wet stuff everywhere!), if not the source.

Will try to clock the water meter now - thank you

firefox1956

As post #3....
Leaks like that don't just stop.
Whatever Dynorod / BG tell you

Jackmydad

One thing to do is to find out if the water actually is mains water or not.
I've never used them, but you can get test kits like these
https://www.simplexhealth.co.uk/identify-source-of-a-water-leak-in-your-property-cms-52.html
(No affiliation) I'm sure there are others available.
Depending on the house construction, water from (say) a roof leak can, and will find it's way all the way or part way down any structure.
As Geoff1963 says, if you have a water meter it's a useful way of leak checking.
You can also turn everything off, including any boilers, pumps etc. Turn off all the taps, and don't use any water at all, loos included for at least half an hour to allow any final "drips" to finish. You can then listen to the incoming pipe, either at the internal or external stop (both of which are left on) to ascertain if there is any flow. You use either a large long screwdriver or similar. The metal end is touched to the pipe, and the handle of the screwdriver is held against the outside of the ear, as a "stethoscope". Any flow will be heard.
It's worth also knowing that warm, water laden air getting directly to somewhere sufficiently cold, like rain wet roof slates on a windy day for example, can give rise to considerable amounts of water from condensation. And I mean considerable!
So any new holes in upstairs ceilings (for example) from other maintenance or additions might be worth looking at.
Only thoughts really I'm afraid but might help.

eddddy

carotearoa wrote: »

We then turned water back on and the leak resumed...

...Turning the water back on now doesn't resume the leak either...

Presumably the DynoRod people looked at cold water tank(s) in the roof, the central heating header tank, inside toilet cisterns and any other tanks that you might have with a ballcock or float valve?

A combination of a sticking (or failing) ballcock/float valve and ineffective overflow in a tank could cause the symptoms you describe.

Once the water level in the tank drops (e.g. because you run a bath), the overflow leak will stop - and it might even 'unstick' the valve.

(I've come across plumbers who have 'forgotten' to connect overflows on tanks. Plumbers generally don't test 'overflow situations', so the mistake might not be noticed for many years - until the ballcock/float valve sticks or fails.)

carotearoa

Hi Edddy, are you a plumber?

Because you hit the nail on the head! The ballcock is indeed failing (and no one checked) and we have an issue with the overflow pipe. Also have an issue with the boiler. So - lots of issues (!) but at least they can now be resolved.

Massively impressed that you guessed this without seeing it, but dynorod failed in person!

csgohan4

how did you find out in the end??

carotearoa

Luck (and edddy!)! Very irritating process of elimination. I'm now just hoping this is *the* problem and not just *a* problem so we can fix it and close the ceiling up... Have ruined a 300 year old oak floor (sob sob), but could have been A LOT worse so counting our lucky stars...!