carpet fitter liability

harper.a1

had a new carpet/underlay/threshold strips fitted this weekend. around 2 hours after the fitter left i noticed water running down the living room wall.... luckily i have a builder 2 doors away and he came over and then rang a plumber who then got all the water turned off and then proceeded to lift up the floorboards to reveal that the fitter had, when replacing the threshold strip between the hallway and bathroom caused a screw to pierce the hot water pipe,causing water damage to the wallpaper downstairs. they had to cut the tongue and groove floorboards to get to pipe which has ruined my bathroom floor and on contacting the fitter he says he is not liable because he only uses the British standard nails and although his hammering " MAY" have caused the screw to puncture the pipe he is not liable. ive been in contact with the carpet company i purchased the carpet from and sent all the pictures i took of the work being carried out by the plumber but they wont now discuss the problem and tell me i have to go through the carpet fitters liability insurance.. any help or advice here please

bris

Tbh it's a difficult one. When I was building my house the JCB driver ripped up the water mains and he wasn't liable because it was the builders job (on my behalf) to tell him where all the services are, standard practice apparently.


So this could be the same, the carpet fitter was just doing what he does and wasn't told where the pipes were so how could he be negligent?


You should contact your insurers and discuss it with them.

harper.a1

not that i don't appreciate the help,but surely HIS insurance protects him for this kind of thing?? why would i have to claim for damages on my insurance for damage he caused.. by hammering the new nails down into the floor through a new threshold strip. surely he would of been aware of the screws all ready in place from the previous strip and removed them before fitting the new one?

Ganga

If the metal strip was in the same place as the one he removed,the screws/nails would have been close/touching the pipes underneath anyway,therefore he only fitted like for like,the problem would seem to be that the plumber who fitted the pipes when the house was built did not fit them low enough at the time.

zoob

If the carpet fitter used screws much longer than the standard floorboard depth he could be liable
But if the water pipes are on the same level as the top of the joist it’s the plumbers fault for not installing the pipes properly in the first place, a carpet fitter is not to know if a lazy plumber installed the pipes and didn’t cut a depth enough recess in the joist

Deanston

harper.a1 wrote: »

not that i don't appreciate the help,but surely HIS insurance protects him for this kind of thing?? why would i have to claim for damages on my insurance for damage he caused.. by hammering the new nails down into the floor through a new threshold strip. surely he would of been aware of the screws all ready in place from the previous strip and removed them before fitting the new one?

Surely they were removed when the strip was removed?

micky2phones

Hi, maybe he used longer nails/screws as sometimes you need ones longer to hold in place as the holes get worn

Les79

harper.a1 wrote: »

not that i don't appreciate the help,but surely HIS insurance protects him for this kind of thing?? why would i have to claim for damages on my insurance for damage he caused.. by hammering the new nails down into the floor through a new threshold strip. surely he would of been aware of the screws all ready in place from the previous strip and removed them before fitting the new one?

You got any home insurance which may be able to assist? I have no idea if it would or not but certainly worth exploring. I think you even get insurance with certain banks/CC companies too?


That aside, I think there's a good chance that the initial plumber is liable here. But it would depend on the fitter's method. Did they do anything different to what you'd expect them to do on a normal job (for example, using longer nails)? Did they have any, or should have had any, reasonable cause for concern when fitting it (if they replaced nails of the same size then this is very unlikely because a reasonable person would assume that a screw of equal depth wouldn't cause a problem, given it had already been in place)?


I think you are chasing the wrong person personally, HOWEVER you are absolutely welcome to take them to MCOL (small claims court) to claim money to fix the issue. You will need to gather your evidence to show any sort of liability (as well as reasonable quotations), and you should consider who it is best to address it to. Options can include:


- Fitter themselves
- The company you contracted with for the carpet strips (if they arranged the fitter for you)
- The original plumber

harper.a1

Deanston wrote: »

Surely they were removed when the strip was removed?

no. he just put the new strip in place with out removing the previous nails or screws. he admitted that by doing this his hammering down on the new strip MAY have aggravated the situation but insists he's not liable..

davidmcn

harper.a1 wrote: »

not that i don't appreciate the help,but surely HIS insurance protects him for this kind of thing?? why would i have to claim for damages on my insurance for damage he caused

If he's liable then you pursue him for the costs. Whether he has insurance to cover those costs is his problem.

But it's not clear from your story whether he even is liable. Did you contract directly with him, or did the shop arrange everything?

tacpot12

If he didn't remove the old screws and he hammered the new strip down, it was likely (foreseeable) that the old screws could be driven deeper into the floor and there he is liable.

If he were to have removed the old screws, and one had actually punctured the pipe already but the pipe was not leaking until he removed it, then I think he would still be held liable as it was his work that precipitated the leak. This is not necessarily fair, but I think the liability works this way because professional are paid to do the work.

If you have accidental damage insurance on your property, it is worth calling your insurance company for advice, because your insurer will be liable for this accident if you cannot recover the cost from the carpet fitter.