Is this something i could claim on my insurance for???

[ROSEgarden]

a pipe under my kitchen sink(drain pipe i think?) has leaked..the unit is sodden, very soft and desperatly trying to hold up my very heavy ceramic sink..the walls shot, even outside the bricks are flaking and i guess underneath, my lovely new wood flooring will be rotton..got plumber coming out asap but a friend has just suggested my isurance may cover this?..would that be right?

I think you probably can. Our kitchen was flooded by our washing machine and we claimed for water damage. This was years ago, I must admit.

Yes ! This is what your insurance is for

One of the water inlet pipoes to my washing machine was leaking in the utility room, for quite a long time before we noticed it. The cupbard was shot (fortunately the wall and floor (concrete) were fine. Insurance paid for a new cupboard unit .

It depends what your policy says, some don't cover pipes/plumbing. Give them a call and they'll tell you.

rang them they have to ring me back monday as by the time i actually got through to the 'right' person a human not a voice recording it was almost 5pm and id been passed around and on hold for over an hour..she said in meantime to get quotes for what will need repairing, so will be wall, floor,flooring, unit(if not more than one if its all down the bottom end of house?)

the floor is like soft sloppy clay, like a mud pack and is just running through my friend(the plumberish guy) his hands, there is mould all up the wall, which is obv bad for us too..oh god im just so stressed...dp thinks we shuold get debt on and get a new kitchen(it was an idea we had but for about 5 yrs time when car was paid off)..im a childminder so need my kitchen!, what the hell am i gunna do!

friend said to get a stop cap for pipe..no such thing, we'd need to buy a whole new joint/connection thing, so washing machine full of smelly washing, dishwasher full of pots and sink full of todays pots that wouldnt fit in dish washer

thing with this cupboard unit is its connected to all three wall units goes like this
IIIIII - HERE IS WERE SINK IS,BELOW ON THE
I I RIGHT IS THE DISHWASHER, THE WAS
I I HING MACHINE IS BELWO SINK, ON
I ITS LEFT
I
I
I

water is all under flooring and floor(concrete floor) is soft and sopping

that didnt turn out as i wrote it..basicall we have a long wall on left side with cooker and units on, going across towards the right of this at the bottom is the washer then the sink, coming back up the right side is the dish washer.

I hate to say it but most home insurance policies don't cover things which are maintenance issues, wear and tear or things that happen gradually. So, if the pipe had just leaked suddenly and caused damage then you would be covered. However if it has been leaking over a period of time (which from your description of the damage it may have been) then you would not be covered as insurers would take the view that you should have noticed and rectified the problem. Will keep my fingers crossed for you that your insurance company will cover it.

My friend has just had a new kitchen, mostly paid for by her insurance.

The dishwasher has a lose connection and had been dripping for the 2 years she had been in the house, she had to have new floorboards etc.

They first noticed bubbling paint in the downstairs loo which ajoins the kitchen, but is not right next to the diswasher. All the walls were saturated and the floor units all sodden.

Good luck.

thansk everyone, i know they wont pay for the plumbing that caused the leak, i knew and they confirmed, but they will(subject to her checking out my policy as it was gone 5pm when i finally got through and ofcourse the world stops turning at 5pm doesnt it!)pay to replair replace anything that was damaged due to the flood, which could be..floor(concrete, its like mush, wall damp and mouldy, flooring, unit is like wet paper mache...also something else i noticed a couple of days ago, the flooring was only fitted about aug last year and near the washing machine(clsoe to leak but other side of room) the kick boards dont 'meet' the flooring end anymore...wondered about it couple of weeks ago but didnt pursue then mentioned to dp tonight and he's the same as me, when i was done it DID all meet, so the water must have got along there and already warped the kick boards and god knows what else on opposite(but same end) side of room!..god theyre going to have to rip it all out to see whats gone on arn't they

RIGHT!, insurance just called back theyre sending out two comapnies to survey the damage, one for building work other for decorative(flooring etc)..when i called a builder from yell.com(whom my plumber friend works for) he took a very sharp intake of breath when i mentioned this surveyors company name..said they are renound for under quoting..on a job they said would cost £900, they said they would pay £300..he said the customer rang and had it out and had price put up..this is what i will/would do, im not paying insurance for 12 years then ahving to pay £100's on top of their pay out to have work done!..so ive got this guy rining me back to let me know when he can come so im prepared, then managed to get another buidler who's beenr ained off to come in an hour to also give em price(then i can compair 'thir' prices agaisnt eachother then agaisnt surveyor!..phew!

will have to pay £50 excess when surveyor comes, so hoping they arn't a bunch of twats and just pay what needs to be paid!...anyone had them before..imperial consultants??

My cousin has just replied to my text, he's coming round tonight(he has his own building company, but we dont ask him to do work as he feels he cant charge, so we go elsewhere, but as insurance may pay this time, he knows he can charge his going rate)..hes also said he knows how to deal with cheeky insurance companies and thier undercutting so hes taking my insurance companies number and will ring them once surveyor been..fingers crossed!

oh dear god..the ENTIRE bottom half of the kitchen has rising damp/mould and water covering it..the plaster walls are flaking off like paper mache, just crumbling, the units along from were the leak started are moulded and crumbling, the floor has huge dips in it were the water has sat and sunk the floor, the surface tops are sagging due to splashing and the damp rising and making them wet/soggy and moulding..have been qupted £1400..just for walls to be cleared, dried out and re plastered, the floor dried out and re-screeded and the plumbing to be corrected

how long was it leaking?? Seems like an awful lot of damage for you to have just noticed it? You poor thing!

well dad of my mindee said a week, builder and big kithcne company who came yesterday said over a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the thing is, we laid flooring down ON TOP of the original tiles, so the water didnt spill over, just went straight under them and the cupboard wasnt used other than a few pots of paint(kiddys paint0 etc..it looked like a manky old cupboard when we moved in, but we thought it was just old and needed replacing
am just on hold to insurnace again as theyre sending someone out to look at building and diff company to look at flooring, kitchen guy said yesterday the reason is the floor is contents, the walls are buildings..what about my units????..lovely music being played down the speaker phone!

the reason it went un noticed is that the cupboard it hapend in had no back on it(under sink cupborad with pipes etc), the drainage pipe that has leaked WAS inside the other part of it, just notsecured so each time the washing machine/dishwasher was on it must have gushed out of pipes and down back of unit, on wall and under flooring.

Oh dear Rose it sounds like a lot of damage but at least your insurance company is on top of things. Have they confirmed if they will cover it? Hope you manage to get it all sorted soon. I'm going to check my cupboard under the sink as I've been complaining to DH for a while that there is a drain/damp smell coming from there! After hearing your story I want to check that a similar thing isn't happening to us!

thanks Lubyloo, hope yours is ok..insurance rang last night, surveyor cant get out till next week..when a lot of it will be dryer and look much bettert han last friday..however the damage is far worse than i thought, so theres no hiding that!..just got quote from kitchen company who will do ALL the work(building/skimming etc)......................are you sitting down?....£2740!!..just for the aprt thats damaged, thats stripping that half of room, all plaster and tiles taken off, plumbing took out, units taaken out including work surface no that side, walls dried with dehumidifier(for about a week!!) then replastered, new plumbing put in new units put in(all the while hoping they dont break my new ceramic sink)...then we have to sort out rest of room...i suspect the insurance company will try and get out of this, but TBH ive had a couple of seperate estimates and even then to clear wall, dry out and re plaster one builder was gunna charge me £1400...so doesnt sound far out?..can someone lend me a time machine so i can skip forward a few weeks?

Hi ROSEgarden

I deal with insurance claims and from the info you have given your insurers should deal with all the damage. I dont know the specifics, but the walls, flooring, etc will need to be dried, then floor replaced, walls replastered etc. Any units which are damaged will be replaced and you may be able to claim a contribution towards replacing undamaged units, (if you cant replace existing units with a match) check your policy wording under the buildings section to see what it says regarding "matching items". Your policy should also cover the cost of redecoration of the room, and if you have contents cover should also cover replacing your carpet/vinyl flooring.

It may be that your insurers will send a surveyor/loss adjuster out to deal with your claim, the costs you have been quoted are not unreasonable for this type of work.

Contrary to popular belief insurers will not try and avoid paying geniune claims, and it causes a lot of uneccessary worry and stress because of this misconception.

Try not to worry. If you think things will dry before the surveyor can get out next week, take some digital photos, video footage of the damage as it is now, and you can show this to the surveyor when they visit.

If you have specific questions, write a list before the surveyors visit, so that you dont forget things, get sidetracked.

The surveyors are used to dealing with this type of claim, and they will know what to look for, and exactly how to deal with it,

I hope that helps,

Fiestabelle