Water under kitchen tiles - solid floor

[Waterunderfloor]

Argh help!

I've found water coming in under my kitchen floor tiles. The grout is wet and the party wall is damp too. I have the boiler (fairly new) on the back wall but all pipes on that are dry.

Is it best to go through insurance or call a plumber or builder or something? I've just found it tonight. I have a soil pipe on the external wall. The floor under the tiles is solid concrete AFAIK.

My sink and washing machine are on a different wall completely and goes to a different waste pipe outside so it's not that.
My insurance excess is expensive. I'm panicking. No idea what to do. Has anyone been in this situation before? I feel sick, what do I do?

I would call your insurance company first. They will arrange for leak detection specialist to visit and access the situation then go from there.

You can do this yourself without involving the insurance company, but obviously you pay and then it all needs to be rectified.

Good luck.

If I phone my insurers my excess would be a lot. Who would I call to look instead?

If I went through insurers then decided not to use them would my premiums go up anyway on renewal?

The problem is that escape of water has the high excess anyway. But just for the initial leak detection insurance sent out Auger. Is your excess £450?

We have recently had the same problem occur again on the mains water pipe into the house that wasn’t properly fixed through insurance. I didn’t go through insurance this time. We paid a leak detection company £660 inclusive of Vat which was the daily rate for it to be fixed but my partner had dug out the patio himself having hired special equipment and it was a simple job in the end. He also did all the subsequent putting the patio together.

In your situation under concrete floor in the house I would go through insurance company.

@Waterunderfloor
I would be more concerned about the pipes under the floor supplying water rather than the exit of used water. You need to know where the water comes into the kitchen and how it gets to the appliances. Where do the water pipes run? Water finds the lowest area to lie. Has the other side of the party wall got damp too? You might need to ask them. Sounds like a leak to me and I’d get a builder in first or a plumber who can detect leaks. The insurance company should pay but you will need quotes. So get someone in to do that.

Thanks for the replies. I have no idea where the supply line comes into my house. I can just see the waste pipes that lead to the drainage outside. I have a stop tap but all pipes are dry around that area.

I think I'll call insurers tomorrow and lump the consequences or at least find out what they say. My excess is 650 for escape of water but theres other stuff they may charge me for too.

So you need to know where the water comes in. Under the sink? Where do the pipes cross the kitchen? What about next door? What water supply do they have?

Sorry to ask but how would I even know? I feel clueless.

Just had this. Plumber to find and fix leak. Insurance for the rest. If its been leaking a while, it'll need drying out. Subfloor will need fixing after plumber has hacked in to find/fix leak. Insurance will pay for the electricity used by drying equipment. Contact your water supplier too. You should get a rebate for fixing the leak. It's a long process, I'm about half way through and it's been two months.

What will the water supplier do? Its United utilities

Sorry for the questions, did your floor need ripping up and do you have to pay for replacing it?

💯 insurance! This happened to me very recently. What I thought might be a tiny leak turned out to be a huge escape of water that affected 5 rooms. So glad I now called the insurance since they've re floored all 5 rooms, decorated each one, replaced all skirtings and architraves and finally refitted a brand new Howdens kitchen!

Also our excess was £300, the works done amount to at least 40k

Oh wow, that's brilliant. One caveat in my insurance is it says I need to fix the leak myself via a plumber etc. Since I dont know where the leak is coming from and suspect it is the underground pipes I dint know if I'm best trying to resolve this first or just going straight through insurers. Any advice? I feel so dumb right now, I'm paralysed with fear of choosing the wrong option

I'm liable for the leak and I'm absolutely panicking .

Then you have no option but to call out a plumber @Waterunderfloor . it’s there in black and white! Or a builder. You need someone who can source the leak.

The water company usually doesn’t have responsibility on your property. It stops at your boundary.

You almost certainly will need the floor up if the pipes are leaking under the floor . It’s important to get the source of the leak sorted snd yes, You will have to spend some money. It’s a risk you took with your insurance. Hopefully all repairs will be covered.

If you do go via insurance they will send someone out to trace how far the leak has travelled underfloor. We initially got a plumber in at not much cost to us. Warning he might drill a big hole where the leak is coming from. If you ring your insurance people they will instruct you of what to do and when to do it.

Ok so I've spent this morning on the phone to the insurers. They are going to send someone out to inspect the main drains etc and see if it needs repair or replacement. I'm hoping its something simple and drain related as they will sort it. If it's not, who knows. Excess for this is £250