Leak in kitchen behind plasterboard - insurance claim?

MrBrindle

Hi Bendy_House, that's actually a pretty good plan, didn't think of that. 

A plumber is MEANT to be coming tomorrow now.......we'll see!

I'm actually quite keen to tackle the project - the cutting and making good of the plasterboard doesn't phase me, but the pipework does.

My partner works at home as a dog groomer and has dogs booked in every morning this week, so if I b*lls up the job and can't turn the water back on, then she will have to cancel all her appointments! 

I know a lot of people would just dive straight in on this, but I'm just maybe too wary!

Multitool sounds the way forward, and my brother has one, but he's gone to London and I don't have access to his house!

If I were to tackle the job, what's the best way of emptying the water in the pipes? Obviously gravity will keep some there. 

Finally, there's quite a bit of water along the bottom back down past the units, this is a timber framed house, so do I need to worry about the bottom plate rotting? I currently have a large dehumidifier where the dishwasher goes collecting water. 4 wash basins so far.

stuart45

Don't seal it all back up until you've dried out the timber. Once you've cut out the stud the plumbing is a 2minute job.

Bendy_House

What are these pipes for - what water do they carry? Where do they go?

And what sort of plumbing/CH system do you have - is it a combi boiler, or do you have a hot tank?

How easy it'll be to 'drain' will come down to this.

You haven't answered - are you catching the continuing leak?

No, you shouldn't have to worry about rot - this might (will...) take weeks to fully dry out, but timber would usually have to be damp for many months or more before rot sets in, and your timbers will surely be treated anyway.

Does your plumber know that he's likely going to have to cut through a timber stud?!

Keep going with the dehumid - is it tucked under there near the damp area?

Stuart is right - this should be very simple to sort. BUT, you have the combination of not having done anything like this before, and a serious time-pressure on your hands.

Try and describe the plumbing as much as possible - I wonder if there's a way of isolating just that pipe? It appears to be coming out from the wall and heading into the back of that LH unit - is it? If so, where the hell does it go?

MrBrindle

Thanks for the reply again.

Yeah I have wrapped a towel around the pipe as best as I can, it's getting pretty wet, but the leak seems to be exiting right up against the stud so some is probably escaping. Dehumidifer is right up in the space, and also has a powerful fan exiting the back so that hot air should help too/

I've sent a picture of the pipework and wall to all the plumbers I've contacted and told them the positioning!

So that pipe comes directly off the stop-tap underneath the kitchen, and I presume feeds the cold water to the rest of the house - that's the only cold water pipe that exits into the wall. CH is a tank system - boiler in the utility downstairs and a HW tank upstairs in an airing cupboard. Would I need to drain the HW tank as well as turn all the cold water taps on??

Here is the pic of the pipe layout in the kitchen. I should point out that a 15mm HW pipe comes back into the unit underneath the sink, but didn't see any point drawing that!

Bendy_House

Ah, so it's the incoming mains supply.

The good news is that, once the stopcock is shut off and the kitchen cold tap is opened to drain the water still in the pipe, there shouldn't be too much still in there to cause a mess, or flood...

The bad news is that the whole mains will need to be turned off whilst you work on this.

However, did you say it wasn't combi? You have a hot cylinder, and a large cold water storage tank in the loft? In which case, there should be plenty of stored hot and cold water there for your partner's business to continue a pace.

Can you trace/work out where the three 'tees' head to? Ie the three pipes that come from the mains stopcock.

MrBrindle

Bendy_House said:

Ah, so it's the incoming mains supply.

The good news is that, once the stopcock is shut off and the kitchen cold tap is opened to drain the water still in the pipe, there shouldn't be too much still in there to cause a mess, or flood...

The bad news is that the whole mains will need to be turned off whilst you work on this.

However, did you say it wasn't combi? You have a hot cylinder, and a large cold water storage tank in the loft? In which case, there should be plenty of stored hot and cold water there for your partner's business to continue a pace.

Can you trace/work out where the three 'tees' head to? Ie the three pipes that come from the mains stopcock.

No, it's not a combi. However we don't have a cold water tank in the loft, it's a 'sealed' central heating system, so just the boiler and the HW tank.

The other pipes in the drawing go to 1/outside tap, 2/kitchen taps, 3/dishwasher  - plus theres the waste/HW pipes etc.

Bendy_House

Ah, in that case your whole H&C system stops when you close off the stopcock :-(

stuart45

Your diagram shows the stopcock after the leak, so you might have to turn it off in the road.

MrBrindle

stuart45 said:

Your diagram shows the stopcock after the leak, so you might have to turn it off in the road.

Not sure what you mean?? The mains pipe (blue MDPE) comes up underneath the house into the unit under the sink, and then that 22mm pipe comes off that and goes into the wall.

stuart45

That sounds OK then, as long as it shuts off the water to that elbow.