Help! Water under kitchen floorboards

[Lochroy]

Just come downstairs and it sounds as if there is water under the kitchen floorboards. There's a spongy noise when I step on them and normally it's silent.

I've never had to deal with anything like this and my mind is racing with what a nightmare we're in for. DH works from home and I'm coming to the end of mat leave with our second. I just want a quiet life :(

I hope I'm not unnecessarily doom mongering, but I'm worried about how the hell you sort something like this out? 1970s house refurbed before we moved in with hardwood floorboards fitted about seven years ago.

Where do I start? Straight to insurance? Do I get my own person out first? I think the excess for water leaks is higher than the normal excess but clearly I can't ignore this much as I really want to be like an ostrich

Mains water leak i would suggest. Try turning the water off and see if you can still hear it. If so it might be the other side of the stopcock. There might be a tap in the pavement outside, it will say 'water' on the little metal flap. If it is a mains water leak then your local water board will be able to advise. Sometimes it's their responsibility, sometimes not, but in my experience they are normally helpful.

Do you mean switch it off and wait to see if it goes away?

Apologies, I misread your post. I thought you could hear water under the floor. It could still be a mains leak but not necessarily. Can you phone your insurance for advice?

Call a plumber leak from washing machine perhaps ,?

1. Try to stop more damage so yes turn off water.

2 Call insurance company - they will advise on next steps. You might have something like emergency home help to send a plumber in this situation (homeserve etc)

I can hear a noise we can't normally hear. And it's a bit spongy under wherever I step on the floorboards. I may be WAY off the mark, but in my head it's as if the underlay (or whatever) it is is full of water being displaced when we step on it.

We have just come to the end of a 6 month saga over water under the kitchen floor so.hope yours is a lot easier to resolve. Call your insurance company and they will send someone out to assess the damage. Would also call whoever is responsible for the water pipes ( Scottish Water here) and they will do a quick check to see if anything is showing on their system.

We had this. It turned out to be a slow leak from an underfloor water pipe. A plumber fixed it, but we had to have the kitchen floor up, which had to be thrown away, and the floor standing units taken out. It was a right pain, but insurance paid up.

Yup. Once the problem is identified and resolved, you may well need to have the floor replaced...the entire kitchen in our case!
Once the floor, or part of it is lifted and the problem solved, there will be a drying out period before repairs can begin. Your insurance will pay for all this. I am really not trying to doom monger, but you will probably have to move out while this is all done.
But for now, one step at a time.
Get off MN
Turn off water
Phone plumber
Phone insurance
Make coffee...lots of
Dig out policies and paperwork
Pray its just a small leak with an easy fix.
Best of luck.

Right, I've filled up lots of bottles of drinking water, sinks full of soapy water for hand washing and a bucket to use to for the loo. And filled the kettle. Anything else before I turn the water off?

@dementedma That's the kind of thing I'm dreading. I know it's self pitying, (and obvs might not be this bad) but most of my family having been able to meet DC2 yet and we're just getting to the point where we're supposed to be having people round and trying to make something of my mat leave before I go back to work in the autumn.

We had this. Our washing machine connection had come loose and had been leaking for some time. First of all check any domestic appliance - washing machine, dishwasher to see if there is a leak. Second of all contact your buildings insurance company and they will send a loss adjuster round to assess the damage. Thirdly find a joiner to take up your floor and replace any joists and floorboards and replace them.

Wow people really go straight to insurance? Turn your water off and I’d probably lift a floor board or two to see the damage and figure out where you’re leak is coming from. Could possibly
Fix the damage yourself if you’ve caught it early on and get a dehumidifier. Similar happened in our bathroom last month, bath tap was leaking and under the flooring was puddle. Mopped it up and got a dehumidifier, DP fixed the leaky tap, problem solved

@Ivy48 Don't laugh, but I don't know how to lift one of these floorboards. They're solid wood tongue and groove cut! Also the water is definitely down the length of the kitchen. DH is home now and neither of us can work out where it's coming from. So I think this one might be an insurance excess well spent and God help us when it comes to the renewal premium.

@Lochroy

Do you mean switch it off and wait to see if it goes away?

Turn off your stop tap, and listen to see if the water is still running. If it isn't the problem is your pipes or plumbing. Get a plumber out first, if it's external he will tell you what you need to do

[quote Lochroy]@Ivy48 Don't laugh, but I don't know how to lift one of these floorboards. They're solid wood tongue and groove cut! Also the water is definitely down the length of the kitchen. DH is home now and neither of us can work out where it's coming from. So I think this one might be an insurance excess well spent and God help us when it comes to the renewal premium. [/quote]
Ah definitely a insurance/plumber job then if you can’t find the source. We’ve always been lucky to find the source. If it’s tongue and groove then I’d start on an edge to life it but if you’re not confident best leave it for them to sort. Hopefully it all works out

I would go straight to insurance because I pay for a 24 hour emergency response line. They will send a plumber or electrician or roofer etc in an emergency. Only once they have been, assessed the problem, stopped it getting worse would I make a claim if appropriate.

Call tour insurer first, or at the least, read the fine print of your insurance terms and conditions before you pay for someone to come out to assess the problem - the insurer may refuse to pay out if you use someone they don’t approve of. Once you know what the problem is, you can decide whether to pay for yourself or continue along the insurance route.

You need a plumber ?

Thanks for all the advice while I was in a bit of a panic earlier. The water is off and I've spoken to the insurance.

Frustratingly, despite having the bells and whistles insurance and paying for home emergency cover they can't help (yet). I need to find a plumber myself and if he can find the leak, then insurance will kick in for any damage. If he can't, they get a more specialist trace team in. Because I don't know where the leak is coming from and have turned the water off, home emergency can't do anything.

So now I'm trying to find a plumber who can come out today and meanwhile the baby has had a nappy leak which I can't wash 🙁

op ask on your local Facebook group for recs, if it's anything like ours you will get quick referrals for a plumber.

Have you only just noticed the soggy floor?

Same happened to us. I thought the floor felt a bit funny for a couple of days, before realising it was water underneath. Sounds like our floor is similar to yours too.
We switched water off at stop cock, which is under our kitchen sink and called our plumber. (New Years Eve!!). He came out very quickly and found the leak was actually at the stop cock and had been a very slow steady leak. Bit of plumbers tape and the leak was stopped.
The floor dried out naturally without having to be lifted.
So, it could just be something similar for you too. Fingers crossed.

Home emergency won't come!!!! That's rubbish. Good luck finding a plumber.