Shower Leaking

[german]

Hi
1. Does anyone know if a leaking shower is covered by home insurance. I have seen that there must be a leak that has started to drip on the kitchen ceiling downstairs.

I assume the shower unit needs replacing but no expert.
2. I plan to jump onto onlinetradesman, would i be looking for a carpenter or plumber? have tried to fix grouting before assuming that was where the leak came from but its done nothing. We had a plumber in who took a brief look last year but they didnt know for sure, (add: they were in to look at a shower pump so just asked them briefly)

 

[onq]

Shower leaks can occur in three main areas - no doubt other competent posts can add their experiences to this.

- The connection at the tray outlet
- The grout/seal both at the tray and in the tiling
- The connection at the mixer valve/ water supply inlet.

Other than that you can get a settled pipe with a backfall or a failed pipe seal.
And in what can be a very expensive repair, the supply pipework seals can also fail.

I have yet to see the tray itself fail, but it can happen where old age/impact cracks the tray.
This should be the easiest of shower leaks to discover, because the crack will leave a sharp edge.

A very heavy person can deform the tray in use, or a poorly supported lightweight tray can deform or twist.
I have seen a poor rough timber ground substructure cause a significant leak in a new plastic back in a developer spec house.
Load makes the tray pull away from the seal where the tiles meet the tray, making an intermittent gap that's hard to spot when not in use.

Discovering the source of the leak is a matter of trial and error, but an initial remedial action could be to regrout tiles and reseal the junction and check the outlet seal.
A plumber is your first port of call and you could attempt the grouting/sealing yourself - a carpenter might not be needed unless you're pulling up and replacing floorboards, which is a bigger job.


ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

 

[elcato]

Another part of the process of elimination:
Does it only leak when someone uses the shower ?
Try placing the shower head on the ground so that no water is getting above the shower tray. That should rule out the tiles re-grout.
Perhaps uas a hose from another source in the bathroom to fill the tray. That rules out the mixer valve being the source.

 

[Mrs Vimes]

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago, shower leaking into kitchen.

I got a builder (I had him around anyway) cut a hole in the kitchen ceiling - turned out to be both the sealing around the shower tray and the drainpipe out of the shower slightly loose.

The insurance covered repair/replacement of the ceiling but not the repair itself.

 

[donee]

in answer to insurance , when we renewed our insurance on our house this year and never having claimed, in the proposal or whatever it is they send you no water damage is covered i.e. leaking pipes shower, water tank etc because i queried it.

 

[Black Sheep]

I would get a quote from a plumber to repair the leak and a quote from builder to repair the damage caused.The insurance will only pay for the ensuing damage and bump up your premium next year and following years so much that it may not pay you to claim