We received a call from a homeowner who was worried about dampness in carpets and dampness rising up walls. The homeowner had noticed that the carpets were damp to the touch, had a damp musty odour, the doors were sticking, skirting boards were peeling off and the wall plaster was discoloured. The homeowner called his insurance company, explained the symptoms and was told that the policy would not cover the damage as it sounded like rising damp, wear and tear and deterioration. Naturally, the homeowner was very worried and wanted to get an independent inspection.
The homeowner contacted Insurance Claim solutions to carry out an independent inspection and advise on the policy cover. We carried out a full damage assessment, and our inspection indicated an escape of water rather than rising damp.
The ground floor heating pipes were gun barrel, and as they were approximately 30 years old, are very susceptible to corrosion and leakage. We discovered that although the heating was constantly on, the radiators on the ground floor didn’t heat up at all and were cold to the touch. This pointed to a substantial escape of water, which may be covered under a household policy, depending on the policy wording. We arranged for a leak detection specialist to carry out a test on the system, which confirmed that the pipework was leaking under the concrete floor.
The leak detection specialist found the leak, and when the concrete floor was dug up, there were pools of water under the concrete slab. The leak detectors then capped off the system to mitigate the loss, and awaited loss adjuster inspection.
We immediately contacted the insurance company to advise of our findings and asked them for a loss adjuster to be appointed and to call out to inspect the damage. We also advised our client to appoint a water damage restoration specialist to establish the full extent of damage and the treatment plan, we assisted with the appointment of a competent specialist.
We met with loss adjuster and agreed a comprehensive damage treatment and drying programme and comprehensive scope of repairs.
Once the extent of the damage was agreed with the insurance assessor we needed to negotiate the costs.
We agreed a settlement in respect of buildings and contents, and as the damage was so extensive, we also negotiated alternative accommodation while some of the work was carried out. We kept the homeowner informed at every stage, from the leak detection through to the agreed settlement.
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