Plumber denying causing damage

[Kalinaa]

Hi all- hoping I can get some advice here please!
I had a plumber out to install a dish washer about 6 weeks ago. About 2 weeks later I noticed the laminate flooring in the kitchen feeling spongy - and when I’ve looked at it the floor has basically came away in my hands. The dish washer was working fine so I had no idea if this was plumbing related or what.

So I asked the plumber to come back and have a look- and he was there about 15 minutes and says your stop cock needed tightening - it’s done now- it had been dripping the whole time. He said it was stiff but still worked fine and didn’t need replacing. I’ve challenged him on this and said was this done when you installed the dish washer and he’s basically said the stop cock could have just become loose over time and is essentially saying it was nothing to do with him. Even though we had lived here for years with no issue and within weeks of him doing plumbing our entire kitchen floor is basically ruined.

Where do I stand with this? I’ve looked through my home insurance but no clue if I can claim for it being of my opinion that he’s caused this damage? Do I need to go to civil claims court? I’m so lost. Any help so much appreciated, thank you

I think you would have a hard job to prove that he was the actual cause tbh. It is just your opinion that he caused it. Plenty of people will have randomly developed a leaky stopcock, it does happen, there are even instructions on how to identify and fix a leaky stopcock online.
Without proof, even if you feel it’s the plumbers fault, it could just be seen as coincidence.

I know our insurance doesn’t cover poor workmanship, we looked into it when our patio door was shoddily installed. You might be best to just claim for developing a leak, or even replacing the floor without going through insurance.

I will never have laminate in a kitchen again after our fridge freezer defrosted and leaked underneath our laminate. It really doesn’t take much liquid for it to lift!

@SmigeonPigeon thank you so much. Our insurance is the same and doesn’t cover poor workmanship so I had no idea where to go with it. Out of interest - what flooring do you have now and do you prefer it?

Look at building insurance when we had similar ( admittedly 15 years ago) both paid out

Your building insurance covers you for escape or water so the damage will be covered. If Insurers believe plumber is at fault they can try and recover the costs but it will be difficult to prove he was at fault.

Thank you so much everyone!!