J
jdey123
Hi there,
I had an 'escape of water' between my sink and toilet unit in the bathroom and am dealing with the insurance company. I fixed the leak myself. The loss adjuster came out and saw a pool of water on the tiles that was visible when you lift the lid above the cistern and said that this indicated that the leak was ongoing and I needed to get a plumber to do a 'trace and access' to fix the leak. I was skeptical about this, as the pool wasn't getting any bigger. The loss adjuster suggested that it may be because the toilet and sink are on a raised area and the leak was going under the bath. He also advised that I shouldn't remove the front bath panel without getting a professional.
So I mopped up the water and put the lid back on above the toilet. The drying company then came around lifted the lid, shone the torch down and said there was still a small pool of water so there must still be a leak. I looked and indeed there was a small pool but smaller than when the loss adjuster was there so now I was thinking there may be a leak. I asked the drying company once the leak was fixed how long would it take to dry out the bathroom and he said weeks! I asked him why it needed drying when the bathroom has an original set of tiles and is double tiled in all visible places and he told me that was the problem. Water has had weeks to penetrate between 1 and 2 layers of tiles and would take weeks to extract. I pointed out to him that the pool was very small and wasn't getting any bigger whilst we observed it and he said the leak may just occur under certain circumstances e.g. when I flushed the toilet. I tried that whilst he was there but with no effect. I told him that I'd definitely fixed the original leak and he checked it and said it was dry but said that maybe in fixing that leak, extra pressure had caused a minor leak in the pipes in the sink unit hollow (not visible). but was left wondering whether I had an additional leak or not. I went back to the insurance company and asked if I could remove the front bath panel and sink unit hollow myself to ascertain whether there was indeed a leak and loss adjuster agreed that as it was unlikely it was more than a minor leak, they'd fix it when the builder removed the units. Unfortunately, the builder they appointed wasn't accredited so I rejected him and am now in the process of engaging my own builder, having created a specification of works and bill of materials myself (insurer/claims handler keep avoiding writing anything down)
In the meantime, I mopped up the small pool and put a hairdryer down to dry out the tiles and grout down there so I could see it was all bone dry. I then decided to leave the lid off the toilet and monitor the situation. Observed for a week and it remained bone dry. Put lid back on, lifted after a few days and saw that there was condensation on the toilet and a few drops of water on the tiles. So, I figure I've worked out what the problem is i.e. that the water in the toilet unit panels is evaporating, condensing on the toilet and toilet lid, dropping and forming a pool. To prove this, I re-dried the tiles and left lid off. Tiles have again been bone dry for a week.
So now, I'm thinking if the drying company is mistaken in their diagnosis as to whether there's an ongoing leak or not, then they may be wrong in their diagnosis that it'll take weeks for the tiles to dry.
So to cut a long story short, when the builders remove the sink unit and bath panels, if I dry out the tiles and grout which no doubt will be wet as the panels are still quite damp, then how can I tell if the water has penetrated behind the tiles or not? At the moment, the drying company contractor said the walls and floor are solid. There's also no sign that any tiles are coming away away from the walls and floors and the visible tiles and grout which I've dried remain dry. The other thing I don't really understand with the contractor's suggestion is that my bathroom wall tiles and grout get a soaking whenever we take a shower and the floor tiles from my wet feet when I get out of the bath, so isn't grout supposed to be waterproof?
Any advice/ammo to take back to the insurer most welcome. Although, claims handler has said they'll let me engage a builder dependent on the quote being reasonable, they've still said they want the drying company involved. Although they've agreed a hotel in the local area whilst the work goes on, I'm wary that the drying company will install their equipment for weeks putting my electric bill sky high, forcing me to ask that they leave and then potentially letting the insurer make it look like I'm acting unreasonably. Given the insurer's lengthy delays, illogical sequencing of work, hiring of a cowboy builder and refusing to write anything down, my cynicism of future ploys on their part does have quite a lot of grounds supporting it.
I had an 'escape of water' between my sink and toilet unit in the bathroom and am dealing with the insurance company. I fixed the leak myself. The loss adjuster came out and saw a pool of water on the tiles that was visible when you lift the lid above the cistern and said that this indicated that the leak was ongoing and I needed to get a plumber to do a 'trace and access' to fix the leak. I was skeptical about this, as the pool wasn't getting any bigger. The loss adjuster suggested that it may be because the toilet and sink are on a raised area and the leak was going under the bath. He also advised that I shouldn't remove the front bath panel without getting a professional.
So I mopped up the water and put the lid back on above the toilet. The drying company then came around lifted the lid, shone the torch down and said there was still a small pool of water so there must still be a leak. I looked and indeed there was a small pool but smaller than when the loss adjuster was there so now I was thinking there may be a leak. I asked the drying company once the leak was fixed how long would it take to dry out the bathroom and he said weeks! I asked him why it needed drying when the bathroom has an original set of tiles and is double tiled in all visible places and he told me that was the problem. Water has had weeks to penetrate between 1 and 2 layers of tiles and would take weeks to extract. I pointed out to him that the pool was very small and wasn't getting any bigger whilst we observed it and he said the leak may just occur under certain circumstances e.g. when I flushed the toilet. I tried that whilst he was there but with no effect. I told him that I'd definitely fixed the original leak and he checked it and said it was dry but said that maybe in fixing that leak, extra pressure had caused a minor leak in the pipes in the sink unit hollow (not visible). but was left wondering whether I had an additional leak or not. I went back to the insurance company and asked if I could remove the front bath panel and sink unit hollow myself to ascertain whether there was indeed a leak and loss adjuster agreed that as it was unlikely it was more than a minor leak, they'd fix it when the builder removed the units. Unfortunately, the builder they appointed wasn't accredited so I rejected him and am now in the process of engaging my own builder, having created a specification of works and bill of materials myself (insurer/claims handler keep avoiding writing anything down)
In the meantime, I mopped up the small pool and put a hairdryer down to dry out the tiles and grout down there so I could see it was all bone dry. I then decided to leave the lid off the toilet and monitor the situation. Observed for a week and it remained bone dry. Put lid back on, lifted after a few days and saw that there was condensation on the toilet and a few drops of water on the tiles. So, I figure I've worked out what the problem is i.e. that the water in the toilet unit panels is evaporating, condensing on the toilet and toilet lid, dropping and forming a pool. To prove this, I re-dried the tiles and left lid off. Tiles have again been bone dry for a week.
So now, I'm thinking if the drying company is mistaken in their diagnosis as to whether there's an ongoing leak or not, then they may be wrong in their diagnosis that it'll take weeks for the tiles to dry.
So to cut a long story short, when the builders remove the sink unit and bath panels, if I dry out the tiles and grout which no doubt will be wet as the panels are still quite damp, then how can I tell if the water has penetrated behind the tiles or not? At the moment, the drying company contractor said the walls and floor are solid. There's also no sign that any tiles are coming away away from the walls and floors and the visible tiles and grout which I've dried remain dry. The other thing I don't really understand with the contractor's suggestion is that my bathroom wall tiles and grout get a soaking whenever we take a shower and the floor tiles from my wet feet when I get out of the bath, so isn't grout supposed to be waterproof?
Any advice/ammo to take back to the insurer most welcome. Although, claims handler has said they'll let me engage a builder dependent on the quote being reasonable, they've still said they want the drying company involved. Although they've agreed a hotel in the local area whilst the work goes on, I'm wary that the drying company will install their equipment for weeks putting my electric bill sky high, forcing me to ask that they leave and then potentially letting the insurer make it look like I'm acting unreasonably. Given the insurer's lengthy delays, illogical sequencing of work, hiring of a cowboy builder and refusing to write anything down, my cynicism of future ploys on their part does have quite a lot of grounds supporting it.
