Possible leak under floor! Advice needed!

dan2104

Hi everyone,

I live in a block of flats and yesterday my downstairs neighbour noticed a leak started dripping through his bathroom light fitting at the weekend. I immediately checked my bath, sink and toilet's plumbing and it was all bone dry. The neighbour even brought a plumber upstairs to double check - this plumber seemed unconvinced the water was coming from my flat but the neighbour is convinced it's dripping from a supply pipe that runs under my hallway and into the bathroom...the plumber didn't think this seemed likely.

The leak had stopped dripping into his flat by this point but today the neighbour has informed me that it dripped in again this morning and in the early evening. He is adamant I have to rip up my wood laminate flooring to investigate.

I've got two main questions:

1) Am I under any sort of obligation to rip up the floor? It'll cost a fortune and could all be for nothing, I've already damaged my bath panel breaking it to get it off to rule out a leak from the bath.

2) Does it sound likely to anyone that the leak is coming from a supply pipe? Would it be this intermittent if it was? I've not been home or using any water when he has had water drip into his bathroom.

Thanks!!

Debbie_Savard

>I live in a block of flats<

Freehold or leasehold? Is there a building management company?

dan2104

It's leasehold - there is a building management company, my neighbour says I should expect a letter from them telling me to investigate for the source of the leak. Possibly worth noting this neighbour is a director of the property management company.

Doozergirl

Isolate the supply for a while and see if it stops.

I think it would be cheaper to go in through their ceiling than it would be to render your laminate useless anyway.

dan2104

This is what I've said to him! But he's just had his bathroom ceiling re-plastered and doesn't seem to think it's his problem!

As I understand it, my floor is resting on beams which are on concrete and I think the pipes are in between those beams...so actually maybe going through his ceiling wouldn't be possible?

He's also adamant there are no pipes in his ceiling...they are in our floor, which doesn't seem to make sense.

bris

tell him no way, as far as your concerned it's not your problem. Tell him to get his insurers involved to do the investigating from his side. If it does turn out to be your flat then your insurance will have to get involved too.


He is right though, it's probably your pipes, your heating pipes are under your floors as are your kitchen and bathroom pipes, his are under his floor.


I have never ever seen it the other way about.


Concrete corrodes copper pipes if they are not protected from corrosion, this is a legal requirement for gas pipes but not sure about water pipes.

JohnB47

Just some thoughts. If it is a heating problem and you have a pressure central heating system, are you noticing a drop of pressure over time?

What happened in your flat in the period before the second leaks - were you using your bathroom or kitchen?

Is there an outside cupboard in the common area which houses electrical and water meter, stopcock etc. on your flat level. Had a look in there - all dry?

Is the water coming into his flat clear or murky?

As already suggested, try turning off your water supply (before coming into your flat that is, not under your sink) for as long as you can. If the drips occur again, its a good reason to suggest it's not coming from your flat.

Lastly, if it's not coming from your flat, think about where could it be coming from - remember that water can 'track' quite a distance from the source to where it appears as a leak. What is the overall layout - just one flat above another or another flat above yours, or maybe a flat adjacent to yours?

What about outside guttering and waste pipes - any chance that something external could cause the leak into his flat? Was it raining just before the leaks into his flat?

Debbie_Savard

My parents had water through their ceiling from flat above. Turned out the sealing around the shower tray had 'gone' so whenever the shower was used it allowed water to run down and it then dripped through their floorboards and through the plaster ceiling

dan2104

So we do notice a drop in the pressure on our boiler quite frequently and we’re looking to have it replaced. Although the drop in pressure only seems to happen when the heating is used and we have it switched off. Also, the pipes for the boiler don’t seem to go under the floor (heating pipes are all above floor and run along skirting board) and supply pipe comes just from above our mains tap which is located in the boiler cupboard.

No water was used in my flat in the time between the second leaks. We were out most of the time.

So plumber had a look at our stopcock (which is under boiler in a cupboard) and he said it drips a tiny bit but has been packed up with plumbers mate putty or something so it’s not enough to cause a leak.

The water that comes through the neighbour’s ceiling is clear. Although who knows, maybe this is because it has to filter through a layer of concrete!

We are going to try shutting our water off during the day tomorrow and if he complains of more leaks we will then be quite confident it’s not from us. May put some dye down the drain too to rule out the waste pipes!

Thanks for your help!