Home emergency and feel completely alone and vulnerable (which I hate to admit!). Can anyone help?

[Sunthew]

Basically I have a leak in the upstairs spare bedroom. I have tried to work out where it is coming from but access to our loft is difficult (we live in like a dormer style three bed).

I think it is basically coming from a joint in the corner of where the chimney meets the roofing. Whilst it’s not dripping the area is clearly damp and its got a patch around 30cm each side from the corner of the room where it is.

I have called round and finally found someone who sounds decent and reliable but they can’t come until Friday so essentially another week. Given I have only just noticed it I am now worried that this has been happening for a long time and god knows what damage is done inside the loft.

I am a lone parent with no family and whilst I have good friends obviously this is all on me and I am panicking. I have an emergency home policy which I will call tomorrow having noticed this today but it says only the immediate repair is done. My concerns are…

What happens if the loft is completely rotting?

What if wet rot or even dry rot has spread?

Will a builder check the loft as standard when looking at the leak or just go up to the roof and fix from outside?

How will I deal with the actual patch on the wall?

How much do you think this will cost if I don’t go via insurance?

I don’t have a lot of money to fix these sorts of things despite saving and I am so so worried as my little girl is only 2 and I feel like I have completely let her down. I should have kept on top of the house and literally did not notice this. Any advice really really welcome

Immediate advice - I'd use the stopcock to turn off the entire water supply to the house when I am not using it. fill some buckets, bottles, and a bathtub with water and just turn the water off until I need water to shower etc. In the meantime, the replies above about insurance etc. are a good idea.

I notice a bit of floor feeling not there under Lino yesterday in bathroom and panicked. I then noticed crawling in kitchen looking damp in same area so I think leak under bath. Called insurance company got advice and they said it is classed as emergency to find the source so organised someone who is coming out Monday and they pay (up to 500) then I will have to make a claim for repair. Call insurance and get their advice. They should be available even at weekends. It’s scary isn’t it. I am now widowed and had to force myself to call but glad I did. They were very helpful.

I assumed from OPs description that it was coming in from a leak in the roof/chimney so rain rather than the water piped into the house

I know this is of no practical advice but I think back to when my mother bought a very old house. My dad had just died and she was completely alone.
First shower of rain, a waterfall started coming through the sitting room ceiling, along one line of ceiling boards ( clearly the weakest point).
Not daunted we lined up pots, bowls and buckets in a row and tried to create tunes by moving them around this was in 1966

The point is nothing is that terrible that you don't recover from it.

Don’t worry about the roof timbers - think of all those people doing up basically derelict houses, it takes years and years and years of really bad leaks before roof timbers are damaged enough to need replacing. Roof timbers are thick for a reason! And water always makes its way downwards - the timbers won’t be soaking wet, they’ll be mostly dry while the water has found its way into the plaster.

Is it dripping? If your roofer says it looks like its been there a while and you've only just noticed a 60cm damp patch which isn't leaking I doubt its a major problem which is going to get tragically worse in the next few days.
I had something similar with a damp.patch and drips in my bedroom. Lovely roofer came out a few days after I contacted him and fixed it for I think it was £70. It was just a bit of flashing which had come adrift. Nothing of note in the loft. It just dried out. I was panicking as also on my own, but not a problem.in the end and I didn't claim off the insurance.
Im sure it won't be as bad as youre thinking

its probably not as bad as you think
however, try the insurers it is what you pay for but it may be a no.
if you rent contact landlord
if you do not why not see if there is anyone recommend a local trader on Market place or other local media

Lost part of our roof in extreeme weather a few years ago. Repairs were undertaken through insurance - we had to pay the excess but no increase in annual premiums.

You can call the fire brigade if it's a danger to your property. If a ceiling or roof could cave in then they will come and go up there and find where it's coming from and stop it. It's happened a couple times to us where water poured through blocked guttering. We are disabled so can't get up there.

Sounds stressful, but don’t panic and call your insurer as pp have advised, they are used to this type of thing and will definitely advise you.

Your house is made of strong stuff and it’s unlikely roof trusses will be affected. In my case we had a leak and the first we knew was the ceiling bulging in the hallway! It got wet for a while, the water had to go somewhere! But once a leak is fixed it doesn’t take long to dry, and you might need plastering etc.

Use the home emergency cover on your insurance. That's what it's there for.

Thank you everyone, your messages are so kind. I took advice and posted on the local Facebook group and someone who a number of people recommended is coming tonight to have a look. They won’t do any work but will just check it.

It’s times like this I feel so so lonely and as pathetic as it sounds all your messages have made me feel so much less alone

Please don’t panic. A leak like this is a pain but isn’t an emergency. You have done the right thing and it is a roofer you need. You haven’t been neglectful. These things come from nowhere. Once the leak is fixed- Give it a while to dry out (months) and then assess the loft and fix the paint but it more than likely will be totally fine once fixed

They’ve turned up. Said there’s a redundant boiler thing on the roof and around that area it’s loose. Said it’s 240 to remove it and cover it with that stuff that looks bendy (sorry my knowledge is rubbish!). Said they would also replace a couple of tiles that were missing further along. What do people think to this? The guy is recommended in the area but if I’m honest I still feel anxious about it!

That sounds alright to me OP. Situations like this is where FB local groups come into their own, in my opinion.

Is it a redundant boiler vent? That should have some kind of a cap to prevent water entering. Is that missing?

if they remove it I assume they fit a few new tiles (is the ‘bendy’ stuff metal - that might be flashing?

if there is no rain forecast might be worth a second opinion if further water ingress isn’t going to happen.

although 240 sounds okish for the above work if I’ve understood correctly. Make sure you ask if they will add VAT on

Home Insurance manager here. You need to speak to your Home Emergency cover pronto. It must be reported as soon as you have noticed it so they can attempt to prevent further damage. If you don't report it now and get someone else out first, they likely will decline assistance.

Removing an old boiler wouldn't necessarily be covered by Home Emergency - this sort of cover is for prevention of further damage and to make safe. This usually is covered up to a set amount (eg £500) so check your policy wording carefully. If you do not report it, and get someone else to do any form of work first, you will not be covered. They must send their own contractor. The lines are usually 24/7.

Tiles are usually covered under roofing on this type of policy but this may not be a full repair, it is a preventative repair and you will then usually be told to claim on your main buildings and contents for a full repair and make good.

Home Emergency policy claims should not affect your main insurance premium, claiming on buildings/contents will count as a claim.

Sometimes there is some leeway on these policies for the customer to pay any excess costs over and above the policy limit to the contractor for a repair, but that's a bridge to discuss when you get to it.

Don't trust a jack of all trades off Facebook, especially if you have this policy (it's basically free to call them now as you've already paid for the cover!!). If you want to get a local tradie out after your Home Emergency has assessed then go ahead but CALL THEM FIRST, PLEASE!

Exactly.

I can’t understand why the OP has ignored the advice to call them in the first instance.

They’re normally open quite late too.

@Sunthew- FGS just call your insurer. Not going through them means you potentially could end up with a far bigger bill than any insurance premium hike. They exist for “big problems” like this.

I had an enlarging wet patch on the ceiling of my bathroom for months before I got around to doing anything about it. It took a roofer about 5 minutes to diagnose and about an hour to fix, and didn’t cost much at all.,

I’d wait and see what the man on Friday says first. It’s always good to get a couple of quotes.

We had a leaky radiator once, in a place we didn't tread often so it was a while before we realised the carpet & floor were sopping wet. Once the leak had been dealt with I took up the carpet (it was a very old carpet so I wasn't heartbroken) and cut out the damaged bits of chipboard floor. I was worried about the joists underneath the chipboard but they were fine.
Thick chunks of wood take a very long time to rot.

Don't panic.

Our old house we had two leaks, one bit of lead flashing has come loose, 5 minute job to fix. The other was a bit more serious, but was a couple of hundred. No damage to anything, just needed a bit of repainting in the bedroom below the leak.

Get three quotes, ask around for recommendations. One of the local roofers with the best reputation here was so busy he could pick and choose what jobs he wanted and he didn't want ours but he was lovely and gave some advice on the likely issue and what to watch out for when getting quotes, so always worth ringing around.

Don't beat yourself up. You haven't let her down at all. There's always a way around these things.

Just to prepare you for different possibilities - our roof leaked during a storm and we tried to claim on our insurance but they said it was just the age of the roof so we weren't covered.

Don't worry too much about water damage though - so much in houses can just dry out over time! We thought our laminate flooring was ruined by the water as it went all fat where water had pooled but it was fine once it had dried out fully, which took a few months.