Water leak under laminate flooring

[monkeyfacegrace]

Sorry it's such a boring question.

Overnight there was a huge leak from the mains water pipe into my kitchen at floor level. The water flooded downstairs, and the laminate in every room was squelching underfoot.

We turned off the water from the stopcock outside and the issue has been fixed

Our floors are concrete, celotex, chipboard, underlay, laminate.

Do I really have to rip it all out and replace? If I just left it with a dehumidifier and the heating on, will it all just go away?

It was only laid last week and having to remove it all will set our project back weeks and cost ££££.

We had similar and had to put in an insurance claim. Was over £5000 in damage (ceiling came down too)

Our laminate was old though and just went all wavey and didn’t go back in shape

You need to be sure it is completely dried out or you'll get mould problems. If it was an escape of water rather than a longstanding undetected leak, your insurance may cover the drying out and remedial work. I think you may have to have accidental damage cover for this to be case.

Your insurance should cover the water damage under standard building and contents (laminate usually comes under buildings and carpet is contents) take photos and don't throw anything out is my advice. If you aren't sure you want to claim because of excess and possible loss of nd don't ring them to enquire as it can still be counted against you at renewal, however if your talking thousands it's probably worth the claim.

I know it doesn't help with all the hassle, but our insurance were great when we had a leaking pipe under our backyard. The rule of thumb is they won't pay for the pipe or repairs to it (this is apparently wear and tear) but do pay for the damage caused to everything else, which is the lion's share of the cost anyway.

It's not my insurance. It was a plumber who did some work yesterday who made the mistake so it's under his public liability insurance.

I just don't want my floors taken up 3 days after they have been laid