Tiggs

my shower cubicle in the main bathroom had a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of grout missing.....so this weekend i got the old grout out to replace it and.....AGGGGGHHHHHH! it seems that years of showers (by the us and the previous owners) along with some cappilary action has rotted the whole wall behind the tiles and god knows what else....its possible the water has soaked into the ceiling below (only just notice a crack in it and it could be related?)

anyway, i will call the insurance tommorow but how does it work if its a BIG job? do they just get a quote to fix ALL related problems and deal with it? ie: if the wall of the shower comes out (and it will need to) do they pay for the tiling and decorating to bring it back to how it was or just fix the wall and leave the tiling etc to me?

anyone with experience of soggy walls?

Tiggs

PaulT00

Not exactly soggy walls, but...

I had a problem with a leak in the seal around a shower tray upstairs. First we knew of it was when I walked into the room below and thought "I'm sure there shouldn't be a crack that size in the ceiling and I'm pretty certain there shouldn't be water drizzling out of it..."

Long story short - we contacted the insurance company (buildings) and then immediately instructed a builder to get on with fixing it. The room with the problem was a downstairs bedroom which we were going to redecorate anyway. The quote for making good the damage from the water was about 800 quid (fix the damaged bit of the ceiling, reskim the whole ceiling, rip out the sodden bits of the shower cubicle and rebuild it etc) and the insurance company got nasty because we had just got someone in to do it.

They ended up sending a loss adjuster who ended up leaving with his tail between his legs. They paid out in full. Mind you, it did take them about 4 months...

Moral: if you have buildings insurance they're probably liable but they aren't likely to be happy about it and will do what they can to make it your problem to save paying out. If you do kick things off to get it fixed before the insurance company come to see it, make sure you take pictures etc and document everything.

Good luck!

Tiggs

i thought that may be the case hence i have left it exactly as we found it once it became obvious there was a soggy wall problem.

MarkO

We had exactly the same problem with our last house. It's very common - modern builders just don't seal baths/showers in properly, leading to leaks and all kinds of trouble.

We got a couple of quotes at the insurers request, but the insurers would only pay to fix the damage caused by the leak, but not to resolve the problem itself (duh!). Rather than have the floor/walls/carpet/etc replaced and have the same thing done again, we elected to splash out for a new shower door (part of the problem) and our builder made a point of saying in the quote that there was potential for tiles to be smashed whilst taking them off the wall to replace the plasterboard (badly-fitted tiles was the other part of the problem). The quote therefore covered the cost of the re-tiling and some other remedial work which probably should have fixed the problem (can't tell for sure 'cos we've since sold the house!).

It's a PITA. Only yesterday we had a plumber come in to reseal some parts around the bath in our rented house due to exactly the same problem. Turned out the original fitter had sealed some parts with grout instead of silicone - the former not being properly waterproof, of course.

TopBanana

I had a roof come in after the hot water tank split and leaked everywhere. My insurer had a preferred supplier who came round and fixed it without any hassle about quotes etc

jase555

here we go same thing, happened with bath !!!!

it is your buildings insurance

classed as water damage

thay will repair all walls etc etc

you are responsible for fixing the leak,

email me if you want to discuss, but the surveyor was a barstewrd.

the sub con company fcuked it up totally in the end I got

New tiled floor
all walls re-tiled
new bathroom suite.........................

because ............................

they ab**y na*****l subconned out to a load of tossers and they destroyed my bathroom.

jase

Tiggs

thing here is the original cause was poorley grouted tiles...those tiles are now of the soggy wall so as long as evrything gets rebuilt the problem should be solved.

David Lock

Similar story to above responses. Moved into newish house recently. Noticed damp patch and damge to kitchen ceiling below two upstairs showers. Obviously something leaking in one of the showers. Phoned insurance to see what the situation was. We are covered for any repair costs for damage caused by leak but not for repairing actual leak e.g. ripping up and repairing shower base. This is sort of fair wear and tear scenario. However if I had dropped a sledgehammer in shower and caused problem this would have been covered under accidental damage. Fortunately we identified source of leak and repaired fairly quickly. Will now get builder to sort out ceiling and put in claim. Insurance guy said he could agree all this on phone. So.... my guess would be that all damage caused by water leak over time would be covered. Good luck.

Tiggs

called them and they are sending a chap round.

im interested in the "pay to fix damage not fix problem" issue......if the problem was poorly fitted/grouted tiles and those tiles have now fallen off the soggy wall which has itself collapse into the room next door!!! then surley they will fix the original problem by repairing the damage?

aslo if they have to rip out the shower base and walls....i think the soggyness extends round and under the unit....then do they make good the shower afterwards or do they just rip out the shower- fix the soggy wall and leave me to reinstall the unit?

Tiggs

ps- flippin water!

David Lock

From what I gleaned from my once only chat to insurance guy it all seems a bit of a grey area. It left me thinking that any bill I submit should emphasise that work was to repair damage caused by leak. In my case it was more straighforward - if I had had to remove shower or break up base to access cause of leak then hard luck that's down to me along with reinstallation of same (as it happened the leak was from loose fitting waste unit which we could fix from top of shower base). Sorry can't offer any more guidance but would have thought that since most of your damage is obviously caused by water ingress then most, if not all of the work including reinstatement, would be eligible for claim. I am sure others will comment. D

dsmith

Parents rising main was leaking and caused a load of damp.

Again, Insurance company would pay for the damge but my parents had to pay to get the pipe fixed.

Tiggs in your case, if they have to rip most oh the shower out to repair the wall then you should be ok.

Deano

Tiggs

cool....hated the shower anyway!

(although had a bath last night with a pile of rotting chipbaord next to me in the shower cubicle and a black binlinner over the hole on the otherside to stop my kids waving at me from their room!....that wasnt good!)