burst pipes what to do next ?

H

holidayqueen

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Hi,
We have had a disaster this Christmas. We own a house in an area we use to live before losing jobs there. My OH then got work about 1.5 hours away and we decided to move there and rent and let out our own place. We moved 5 weeks ago and had a friend ready to rent out our place mid January. We arrived back to our own home Christmas morning on the way to family for dinner and found that a pipe had burst and water was flowing down through the ceiling mostly through the light fittings. All we could do on the day was turn off water and power and sweep out some water. Now we are a bit worried that we had not told our insurers that we had moved and that the house was unoccupied . We should have turned off water when we left but we did not. So now my queries are what do we do next what will the extent of the damage be ? Will we be insured ? Who do we get to sort it out , I know we will need a plumber and a electrictian how much damage would be done to the wiring. What about the ceilings will they need to be replaced? We are insured through an agent with Zurich so we will have to wait till Tuesday to report it. Will we have any come back if the place was unoccupied? I am very depressed this evening we have had a bad year so far. All advice welcome
 
Check your policy first before starting to panic. If the ceilings did not collapse then it may only be a matter of letting everything dry out and fix the pipes.
 
Electrics should be fine. If damage to the ceiling isn't bad, some stain bond paint and than a lick of normal paint should do the trick.

It may be a good idea to get an independent loss assessor to work on your behalf.
 
Is it confined to one room a bedroom perhaps? as said above electric's will be ok some damage may have been done to ceiling and perhaps a section of plasterboard will have to be repaired or replaced, and any furniture or carpets replaced if badly water damaged.

Doesn't sound like a major problem from what you said but let us know.
 
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