Big Leak - who is at fault?

drmartin21

Hi, I had a new floor fitted in my bathroom. When the fitter laid the plywood, then moved an existing nail, which punctured a pipe. This lead to a big leak, ceiling had to come down in kitchen, kitchen floor, wet wall on stairwell etc.
The fitter is saying that it is not his responsibility as it wasn't his nail. We are not covered for accidental damage (I know - big mistake!). I feel that we should try and press the fitter more, but not sure where we stand legally. Any advice would be appreciated.

Doozergirl

Him. His insurance, if he has it.

Otherwise you'll be making a court claim against him. He needs to know that.

Alter_ego

What exactly do you mean by moved an existing nail?

drmartin21

What we understand is that apparently there was a nail already in a floorboard, and that the banging of the flooring going down moved this nail into the pipe below.

Tom99

drmartin21 wrote: »

What we understand is that apparently there was a nail already in a floorboard, and that the banging of the flooring going down moved this nail into the pipe below.

I don't think you could blame the fitter for that. How where they to know there was a pipe under the nail?

Wookey

If my understanding is correct on this the tiler put new plywood down on top of an existing floor to tile onto and has driven a new nail in on top of an existing one which in turn went down into a pipe below it? If that is the case then the tiler is at fault, very unlucky but still at fault, you don't go banging nails into flooring unless you have marked pipe runs even more so in a bathroom, i would have thought also that using small screws no deeper than the combined new/old flooring would make for a better job, a screw will hold better than a nail and will not push a nail on further into wood but would gurry first.

spadoosh

drmartin21 wrote: »

What we understand is that apparently there was a nail already in a floorboard, and that the banging of the flooring going down moved this nail into the pipe below.

I doubt a nail would pierce a pipe without being directly hit, ie i would think he would need to be hammering that specific nail.

If the nail was already in place at some point the story doesnt fit that great as it wouldve probably already have pierced the pipe.

spadoosh

Tom99 wrote: »

I don't think you could blame the fitter for that. How where they to know there was a pipe under the nail?

How where they to know there wasnt a pipe under it?

If youre unsure, you should check really.

brightontraveller

Doozergirl wrote: »

Him. His insurance, if he has it.

Otherwise you'll be making a court claim against him. He needs to know that.

Really??? What proof /evidence is there that they are responsible,


I'd ask why did no-one turn water off immediately, If so why so much damage? Insurance company view would be no liability admitted, no proof, client exaggerating claim, Good luck getting a payment with evidence so far posted .

prosaver

Must of been a long nail was it like a 6 inch one?

drmartin21

As we are having the whole bathroom fitted, and there was a very inconsistent drip on Fri/Sat, the thought was that maybe there was a split in the shower screen and a little water had found its was through, and as the side panel is not yet fitted, it had gone through the floor. However, as soon as it started coming through alot, we turned off the water and drained down the whole system, but by that time there was already alot of water gathered above the suspended ceiling.
I can assure you that this is not an exaggerated claim. Just some unfortunate people with a very big hole in their ceiling.