Floor ruined by mystery damp - advice please!

[StormTreader]

So, I moved into my first house 5 years ago and have no idea what I'm supposed to do in this situation. I've got laminate flooring and there's been a patch for the last few years where the laminate pattern bit has been bubbling off slowly, the underlay underneath was visible and always felt slightly damp.
I had the boiler service guy look at it before Christmas, he pulled up the laminate and the underlay underneath just stank of damp. The revealed tiling floor seems to be generally drying but there's no obvious source of where the water had come from.
So, now I have snapped laminate going into the main living room from the hallway where the damp was, and I have no idea where the laminate originally came from.
What do I do?
Do I need to get a plumber to look at the floor, would they pull it up to try and find the source of the water? Is that a builder job? Do I have to find thousands from somewhere to get this fixed? Totally lost!

Photo here in case that helps!

Get the source of the damp sorted first otherwise you will be continually replacing your flooring.

Leaking pipe (even if only a tiny one) under your floorboards - central heating or other?

Likely sources of damp are
-leaky radiator
-leaky washing machine or dishwasher
-leaking service pipe coming in from the street
-blocked gutters
-blocked down pipes
-broken drains
-external ground level higher than internal floors
-failing damp proof course

Check whether your covered by buildings insurance.

I would say leaking pipe, you will need a Drainage company.

Leaky pipe, are you on a water meter?

Having had similar you need to go about locating the leak.
Does the central heating system loose pressure? If it does there are specialistists that help detect where the leak is.
Buildings insurance should pick up the bill for the damage to the floor and making good, but not the repair. In our case nearly £30K.

No water meter.
Theres a radiator on the right, and a hole where he lifted the tile where they ran the pipes down under the floor, no visible leak or damp under it though that I can see.
It's mid-terrace and middle of the house too with no issue I can see with any other floors or walls so I don't think it's anything from outside. Far away from washing machine, and anything else really.
Do I Google drainage company/plumber?

I really wish there was a visible leak that I could point to, I don't know how they will even find whatever it is.

The central heating system does lose pressure, yep. £30k?! Shit! I have about 4k in savings :/

I'd call a plumber. But it sounds like an issue with the central heating. I had a leak somewhere and never found where. But the plumber injected a sealant into the system and it helped massively.

However, I never quite had the same extent of yours! If the tiles are dry under the laminate,could it be leaking further away and travelling between the tiles and laminate and soaking up into the underlay?

Is the damp across that entire section of floor where he's pulled it all up or just where the radiator pipes are? What is the floor under the laminate made of? Is it wooden floorboards or ply and is it damp or wet? You will eventually need to put new flooring down when you have found the source of the damp. But don't panic. It can all be resolved even though it is a pain in the arse.

Do you have buildings insurance? It should cover stuff like this!

The tiles were damp under the underlay, and the underlay itself was dry at either end of the little hallway. It's like it just appeared. The tiles are now mostly dried out. You could see the edge of the watermark in it by the door near the radiator, it's weird.

Sorry - took a long time to post so didn't see other answers. I'm still not sure what the tiles are that you are referring to? It looks to me like the floor is made of mdf or whatever not tiles. If this was me, I would call a building firm and find out from them who they thought should come round. They will have access to all trades. I really really doubt you will have to pay £30k. That's the cost of an extension. Just stay calm, get a builder or a plumber and see what they have to say. It's obviously a slow leak and not a fast leak so you're not flooded. It's been going on a while it may as well go on a while more. Hopefully you can just refloor the hallway.

Then you know the leak is in the ground floor central heating loop, now you need to trace where exactly it is. It’s not obvious if you have a solid floor downstairs or not.

If the floor is concrete then you may need specialist tracing help, not a plumber. If there is space under joists and you can gain access then it’s an easy task.

A floating floor, laminate or other wise will bellow moisture underneath it’s entire area and it may all have to be lifted to allow drying.

Our insurers were brilliant but the assessor did say that it we hadn’t gone about the tracing and repair responsibly, minimise cost to them, then they may have walked away from the bill or only settled in part.

I had similar a few months ago , I got a builder round and initially he thought the water was coming in through the wall , it wasn't so he dug a bit more floor up because he thought it was a pipe, it wasn't ! So he dug a bit more floor up and it was coming through the other wall and seeping over the damp proof course. The whole floor had to come up, I had to have a French drain put in along the outside wall.

The worse thing is the insurance didn't cover it and I had to fork out £2500 to get it fixed.

The tile/brick is the red floor that's now visible in the picture, it had laminate over it which is what was ripped up. The laminate is the oak boards looking stuff.
OK it sounds like I need to start by trying to get a leak detection company to quote me? And that I don't call the insurance until I have sorted out the leaks at my own cost first? Does that sound right?

I can only comment on our insurers, they covered everything except the actual repair. The repair was a few hundred, everything else was covered.
People on here will be better qualified to advise than me but I would engage with the insurers as soon as possible, they will have preferred contractors and you will have their assessor onside each step of the way.

I don't think anyone fancy is needed. It obvious ish where it is. I'd try a plumber first. Preferably one that has been recommended to you.

Are they quarry tiles then? They seem very crumbly? Due to the damp? Is there any green colouring on any of the pipes to indicate a slow leak?

The house is 1930s, I assume they are the original floor, they aren't anything fancy. They don't look overly weak or damaged to me. The exposed parts of pipe do look green, they don't feel wet or have visible damp around them though.
Shit, if these are corroded then maybe others are as well?

How much topping up your central heating system needs topping up is the size of leak you’re looking for. If pipes aren’t wet I doubt it’s the leak, remember water travels easily.

Sounds like you have a bit more investigation work to do.

The boiler is constantly being fixed and then leaking again from a different place, I had assumed that was where the pressure was being lost from. I think I need an adultier adult to just take it all over and fix it! :D

Adulting is hard... the good news is that this is how you learn. We're all learning as we go along!

What I would do in this situation is start with a reputable plumber. Get a recommendation from a friend if you can. If you have a local Facebook group that you're on, or could join, you can ask their for recommendations too. Explain to them that you have a slow leak that you can't identify and get them to have a look. They will be able to come and assess the situation better than we can from a picture and give you further information on what needs to be done. If they think a different trade needs to be involved hey will advise on that too.

At the same time though I would give your insurers a ring and explain that you have a leak and aren't sure why and that you are unsure if you may need to make a claim. They will then be able to walk you through what you need to do. It commits you to nothing at this stage, but you will find out how your insurer can assist you, and what the requirements are - every company is different which is why you need to talk to them. They are quite used to people not knowing what they are doing! If you get it all fixed yourself, you may find that you can't make a claim if you haven't advised them earlier, so it's a wise step.

Don't panic. Just take it a step at a time starting with the easiest and simplest approaches first - which is calling out a local plumber who can properly advise. Once the leak is sorted, it should hopefully just be a case of replacing the hall flooring.

For future reference it is possible to get policies which cover this kind of thing. British Gas Homecare is a popular one - you an get cover for your heating, and also for plumbing and drainage. They often aren't cheap, but can be very useful. We have a plumbing and drainage policy and when our bathroom ceiling fell in while the pest controller was removing a wasp nest from our lost, due to a leak from a recently installed shower, they arrived within an hour and fixed the leak. (In that instance I phoned out insurers for advice, but in the end the bathroom installers came and made the ceiling good as it was their error which had caused the leak. But the insurers were very helpful on the phone).

I actually have british gas homecare, the full one as well! It was their boiler service guy who pulled the floor up for me.
He said that the pipes looking green meant they hadnt been "sealed" and therefore it wasnt covered because it was a leak caused by corrosion due to "incorrect installation"?

Okay. Was he there purely for your annualboiler service rather than to look for the leak? And by the "full one" I assume you mean you have plumbing and drainage cover?

If yes to all of the above, I'd call back. Say you have anunidentifird leak and that the guy who did the boiler service did have a brief look but you want a proper assessment of the problem. If it isn't covered they should still be able to tell you what needs to be done and who by, and also give an estimate if the cost to have them do it. If the guy was only there for a boiler service he may not have actually been the best person to look at it. Calling home are back would definitely be my first step, and get them to fully explain what they think needs to be done to fix it.