Leak from bathroom ceiling collapsed

[Pinklady81]

So moved into house a few months ago old Victorian house. Saw skirting board lift off wall in adjacent room last week so decided to investigate. Bathroom suite very old so bath panel cracked on removal and saw under the bath was very damp and wet . Next day ceiling below holes appeared and then a huge crack and ceiling came through. We've had to strip out bathroom and the plasterboard and tiles had to come up to find leak where we are unsure as everything is soaked. We contacted insurance and they said based on the below photos it's sealant failure so not covered. Has anyone got any advice as professionals have looked and in their opinion they said it isn't sealant failure but insurance now want a cause of damage report but we don't actually know where the leak has come from as everything so wet. The joists have had to be reinforced and the full bathroom stripped out . Any ideas how we can oroceed as this wasn't on the cards .

Have you had a builder / plumber out to try and get a report to give to the insurers ?

Did your surveyor pick up on this?

No survey didnt pick up on this at all . I've got a guy coming tomorrow but as the bath is gone now it's hard to know where leak come from . 🥲

Sorry you're going through this. Our ceiling collapsed below the bathroom after about a month of moving in.....turns out the family we bought the house from did not put any sealant around the bath. We genuinely didn't even see an issue until it was all too late. We took photos of the damage and the insurance paid out. I am baffled as to why yours won't pay out. No one wants all this stress and inconvenience do they?!
Edited to say this was 15 years ago.

The wettest part will usually be beneath the leak. In your pic that looks like the left hand corner. A sealant leak usually lets water through when a shower plays on it. Did you have one? Ordinary splashing about in a bath may cause damp, but not as severe as you had.

Have the bath, basin and WC been removed before inspecting them?

There was a shower in the bath taps were right hand corner . We had to get the full floor up as the floorboards were just rotten the toilet cistern was leaking too so we ripped the lot out and then thought when the ceiling went oh we could potentially claim for this. Sent pictures in today but they've looked briefly and said no it's sealant failure this is the original bathroom with panel off

I am looking at the photo that shows a very wet floor in a corner, next to what seems to be a stud wall with the plaster taken off. Is that the corner where the shower mixer was?

This?

Yes that is where the shower mixer was in the corner

Hard to know, but the jet of the shower would not be against that wall, making sealant failure n that wall unlikely. The jet would be thrown forward along the bath,

I would think a leak in the shower mixer connection inside the wall more likely, dripping down to the floor.

A sealant leak would cause wet at the height of the top of the bath. And would not have such a catastrophic amount of water.

Put this to your insurers.

(If you turn the water on, you might still see a leaking pipe. There would usually be green stain or limescale at and below the leak.)

Off topic, it looks like the pipes, and possibly the mixer, were concealed inside the false wall. This is a cause of great sadness when they go wrong. At the very least you have to smash a hole in the tiles, at the worst you have a hidden leak. I recommend surface-mounted chromed pipes, and a surface mounted mixer.

Thanks for this@PigletJohn the insurers are saying if we can get a cause of damage report they will review this as I'm gobsmacked they think sealant failure did thjs

A reputable local plumber, perhaps. You will be spending a fair wedge of money on one.

Before you take this any further, double check what issues you'd be covered for. When my Mum's ceiling collapsed following a leaking roof, she was told she wasn't covered.

I've rang them and they have said based on photos it's caused by sealant failure I'm disputing this