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Water leak downstairs - help!

2 replies

iloveyoubutilovememore · 03/02/2026 18:48

Last week we noticed our water wasn't getting very hot for baths/washing up etc, so called a plumber in to check everything out. He very quickly informs us that we are losing roughly 60L of water per hour and have a major leak.
OH gets on the phone to our insurance (it's a pretty decent one luckily) who suggest we get someone out to find and repair the leak, then a surveyor is coming round this Friday to determine what needs to be done, how much roughly it will cost etc etc.

We've had the plumber back today who has pretty much ripped off half our kitchen floor (tiles) and found the issue, one of the mains water pipes has broken and it has destroyed some of the foundations under the tile. He suggests we remove the floor in the kitchen including units and the floor in the next door utility as we won't know fully how bad it is unless we check everything out.
I'm panicking a bit as I can't see how we will manage without a kitchen? And how long it's going to take for the insurance company to help us. We have two young kids and two dogs so no doubt the next few days will be tricky with them walking around that area.

Has anyone else been in this situation before?
My OH seems to have this ideal outcome that the insurance company will assess on Friday and agree to whatever we ask for in terms of paying out, I believe we have up to £20k for the actual repair of leak and pipes and up to £20k for replacing flooring, units etc. Surely it can't be that easy, I'm guessing they will want to keep costs down as low as possible...

OP posts:
AlexisP90 · 03/02/2026 18:59

Happend to us. Pipe under the kitchen had a tiny hole in it. Was absolutely flooding the area under the floor. We only noticed because we kept hearing a sound. No signs on the floor itself but once they ripped it up good god it was awful!

Brace yourself... it wasnt horrific but it did take some time to sort out.

Firstly the repair was relatively simple. Just replaced the pipe.
Then came the drying. My god the drying took SOO LONG! Turned out the water had gone through to the top of living room too so up came the carpets there.

Few weeks of fans being on (industrial ones) to dry it all. It was a pain not having a kitchen but honestly it was doable. Microwave and baby equipment (prep machine etc) in the living room. We could go in the kitchen just couldn't cook etc so all other equipment stayed there.

Insurance company were FAB! Sorted the whole thing quickly, tiles replaced brand new carpet. Couldn't fault them. The surveyor could see the stress on my face (holding a baby crying when he came over) and said "oh these kitchen tiles look like they were expensive. Ill account for that" - really lovely guy. They did the repairs then actually offered us a cash settlement for the tiles and carpets to sort outselves (they offered us the choice tbf). A very very generous one.

All in it probably took a couple of months? It was easier and quicker than I thought to be honest..

AlexisP90 · 03/02/2026 19:06

AlexisP90 · 03/02/2026 18:59

Happend to us. Pipe under the kitchen had a tiny hole in it. Was absolutely flooding the area under the floor. We only noticed because we kept hearing a sound. No signs on the floor itself but once they ripped it up good god it was awful!

Brace yourself... it wasnt horrific but it did take some time to sort out.

Firstly the repair was relatively simple. Just replaced the pipe.
Then came the drying. My god the drying took SOO LONG! Turned out the water had gone through to the top of living room too so up came the carpets there.

Few weeks of fans being on (industrial ones) to dry it all. It was a pain not having a kitchen but honestly it was doable. Microwave and baby equipment (prep machine etc) in the living room. We could go in the kitchen just couldn't cook etc so all other equipment stayed there.

Insurance company were FAB! Sorted the whole thing quickly, tiles replaced brand new carpet. Couldn't fault them. The surveyor could see the stress on my face (holding a baby crying when he came over) and said "oh these kitchen tiles look like they were expensive. Ill account for that" - really lovely guy. They did the repairs then actually offered us a cash settlement for the tiles and carpets to sort outselves (they offered us the choice tbf). A very very generous one.

All in it probably took a couple of months? It was easier and quicker than I thought to be honest..

OH make sure to inform your water company or your bill will be sky high! Once we told them about ours they adjusted our bill.
The insurance company also contributed to our energy bill for the fans being on.

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