Leak in kitchen behind plasterboard - insurance claim?

MrBrindle

Bendy_House said:

MrBrindle said:

Is it not worth going through insurance to take everything out, dry, and replace any potentially rotting timber?? Think our excess is £350

I suspect you've missed that opportunity.

In any case, I doubt very much they'd see that work as necessary.

Was the flooring damaged at all? Mil had a W/M leak a good few years back, which only showed itself when water began to squirt up between the Karndean oak flooring when walked on, and the insurance covered the repair.

Well when I rang my insurer on Monday, they said I didn't have emergency home insurance, so they couldn't send someone out to investigate the leak and repair. However I could make a claim for any damages caused by the leak.

Flooring is fine. The damage is only confined to the wood that runs along the bottom of the timber frame, the upright stud, and some dampness on the plasterboards and insulation. Probably minimal in all fairness?

Yeah, my grandparents had a similar issue many years ago. Pipe had burst under the floor by  their bathroom and the water had spread through the concrete into the hallway and bedroom. Think they claimed on insurance to replace the 3 carpets that had to be ripped up, but they paid for the plumber to find and repair the leak.

bpj

MrBrindle said:

The screw has gone properly into the pipe - not just pierce it a little. It must have been like that since the house was built 15 years ago! Why leak now though? Unless it's been leaking for years?!

Possible that the screw essentially sealed the hole it made, leaving only a very slow leak until some movement pulled the pipe away.

Bendy_House

Our previous house developed a damp patch on the kitchen ceiling a couple of years after we'd moved in. I'd fully refurb'ed the bathroom above this, so had my suspicions...

I couldn't bear removing the new free-standing cast-iron bath and ripping up the new white-washed floor boards (ah, the days I had taste...), so cut a square out of the kitchen ceiling where the leak was.

Discovered a very old nail stuck through the side of a copper pipe, which had been rusting away for years. It had finally rusted too far...

jamesd

You might consider adding remote water switches given that a plumber has been involved. Those make it easy to follow instructions on dishwashers and washer-dryers to turn off the water supply when not using them because you can mount the switch on a wall above wherever is convenient.

Some flat steel bar might be used to bridge the gap in the stud.

MrBrindle

Bendy_House said:

Our previous house developed a damp patch on the kitchen ceiling a couple of years after we'd moved in. I'd fully refurb'ed the bathroom above this, so had my suspicions...

I couldn't bear removing the new free-standing cast-iron bath and ripping up the new white-washed floor boards (ah, the days I had taste...), so cut a square out of the kitchen ceiling where the leak was.

Discovered a very old nail stuck through the side of a copper pipe, which had been rusting away for years. It had finally rusted too far...

Fair enough, it can happen then! Hope you didn't panic like me when you saw the water. Square in the ceiling sounds much easier! My MIL had a leak in her upstairs bathroom, and the insurance guys DID rip up her tiles........not sure why they didn't do as you suggested?? 

MrBrindle

jamesd said:

You might consider adding remote water switches given that a plumber has been involved. Those make it easy to follow instructions on dishwashers and washer-dryers to turn off the water supply when not using them because you can mount the switch on a wall above wherever is convenient.

Some flat steel bar might be used to bridge the gap in the stud.

Never heard of them before, what would be the advantage over just turning the valve off? Unfortunately we had to disconnect the water pipe from under the sink, because the dishwasher wouldn't fully come out otherwise.

Bendy_House

MrBrindle said:

Fair enough, it can happen then! Hope you didn't panic like me when you saw the water. Square in the ceiling sounds much easier! My MIL had a leak in her upstairs bathroom, and the insurance guys DID rip up her tiles........not sure why they didn't do as you suggested?? 

Cost and hassle wouldn't have been an issue for them - it was all paid for. Me, it would have broken my heart.

No panic - I'm a hardened DIYer. Just a horrible sinking feeling :-)

jamesd

MrBrindle said:

jamesd said:

You might consider adding remote water switches given that a plumber has been involved. Those make it easy to follow instructions on dishwashers and washer-dryers to turn off the water supply when not using them because you can mount the switch on a wall above wherever is convenient.

Some flat steel bar might be used to bridge the gap in the stud.

Never heard of them before, what would be the advantage over just turning the valve off? Unfortunately we had to disconnect the water pipe from under the sink, because the dishwasher wouldn't fully come out otherwise.

Ease of use, so people are more likely to use them. You can put the remote switches above the kitchen counter and everyone knows how to use a switch. Valves tend to be in much less convenient places and people in practice both tend not to actually turn them on and off every time or don't know how to use them properly.

You might use the valve every time but if you do you're one of the unusual ones!

MrBrindle

Unfortunately, I have to return to this  - but now it's electrical.

So I fixed the hole with some plasterboard and filler, taping up the membrane behind as well.

We had a Bosch engineer out to 'fix' the dishwasher which wasn't filling after it was disconnected for the plumbing repair. Nothing was wrong with it, it just needed to be run for around 5-10 minutes to fill with with water again.

However the dishwasher is back tripping the electrics! Very intermittent though. It ran fine last night, but has tripped the electrics twice so far on tonights run - same setting. I've taken the plug cover off the wall to inspect for damp and all looks fine and dry, the plug and wires all looks fine.  I even plugged in a kettle to the dishwasher plug, but that didn;t trip the electrics. My partner said the engineer put something in the wall socket to test the electrics - not sure exactly what was done?

I'm probably going to need to get a Bosch engineer out again, however my partner told the engineer we'd had a leak and he said we probably won't be covered for any repairs as the machine could have been damaged by the damp, and we'd have to make a claim through house insurance! There wasn't any water on the machine at all. However It did start tripping before we discovered the leak so clearly the two are related somehow.

Now, I don't know what to do. Do I get Bosch out again, or do I book an electrician to come and test the wiring?

Or, something is going wrong the dishwasher, and it was just a coincidence the leak happened the same time?

Is it worth maybe replacing the power cord first?

Headache MK2.

MrBrindle

Any advice anyone?

I've now run an extension lead to the dishwasher to see if it trips when plugged in to another socket.