post leak blues

Steve

Today was going well - until I got home...

I've spent the last 18 months redecorating, room by room, since I bought the house. Since I moved in, the ensuite off the master b'room has been a store room full of yet to be unpacked boxes. I don't think I have opened the door more than twice since moving in. Today - got home from work to find some tea stains along the bottom of the coving in the sitting room. hmmmm... I thought. Went to the dining room and was greeted by that unmistakeable wet brick smell that could only mean a leak somewhere. Further investigation found a damp patch on the ceiling together with a bulge complete with drip at the lowest point... poked a drill bit through and proceeded to fill 1/2 bucket with water.
Turns out the cistern inlet on the ensuite decided after 8 years of service to begin leaking. After much mopping and emptying, turns out the plastic bit where the pressure enters the cistern had failed and must have been dripping for a few days before I noticed!!
Upshot is 2 ceilings are ruined and need replacing - thankfully my oak flooring is still unpacked and undamaged.

I have two questions:

1. The house is still in a semi decorated state - well looks more like a semi built state as I've been stripping walls and removing tiles etc. The floors are all bare concrete awaiting completion of the walls / ceilings before laying the wood floor.
This is actually a "genuine" leak as I've not been anywhere near the source whist re-decorating or anything else. Haven't even been in the ensuite in over a year!
Do I have a case to claim on insurance or will they laugh at me and try to claim it's beacuse of the DIY work? I'm not looking to benefit from this but I already have spent a lot of time on the ceilings getting rid of the original cowboy builders tape/join lines and was dead proud of it -now it's all sh1te and needs to be replaced!

2. The ceiling plaster is now soaked as are some of the floor joists and plasterboard in the ensuite. There's a door frame between the sittingroom & dining room which is also showing signs of swelling. I have a de-humidifier going full blast to try and remove the moisture but I fear damage has already been done.

What do I need to worry about now? mould? wet rot?
Do I need to treat the joists or door frame or upstairs damp floorboards or will they dry out OK?

Obviously the ceiling(s) will have to be replaced - has anyone any idea what a builder would charge for re-slabbing / plastering / re-coving (for a potential insurance claim) pm if you're interested in giving a quote!

I'd appreciate any advice if anyone's been through this before and knows the longer term affects on the plasterwork / woodwork / mould situation.

I'm also thinking that this'll take 4-6 weeks to dry out before I can assess the damage and start thinking about what plasterwork needs re-doing - any suggestions welcomed

Steve

*bump*

So does anyone have any experience of this - should I treat the timber that got wet - or - will it dry out OK?

any advice welcome....

mad m

Ofcourse you can claim on house insurance if you have it.....I doubt very much that you need to replace joists.As you said its only just started to leak.Sometimes also depending on damage you can actually let the ceiling dry out naturally or get a dehumidifer to do it also and repair ceilings without pulling them down.

Id try and get an independant assesser to look at work thats needs to be done and he contacts your insurance company to sort out the claim.I think they charge a percentage or something for their work....Wouldnt hurt also to ring a few contractors to get quotes(written ones)

Macker1

stevec wrote:

*bump*

So does anyone have any experience of this - should I treat the timber that got wet - or - will it dry out OK?

any advice welcome....

PM Sent.......:)