Wooden Floors Ruined by Leak

Hi All,

We moved into a brand new apartment a month ago and within 1 week we noticed that the floor in the En Suite was very wet (tiles had not been laid yet so it was easy to spot). We called the Site manager and he had someone in straight away to fix the pipe so all was well.

Then last week (Sat 27th), we noticed that there was water gushing from behind the shower and we could hear water "squelching" under the floorboards. Again, I got onto the site manager and he sent a plumber round on Sunday morning and they did a temp job of fixing the pipe until the holidays were over.

Unfortunately, the floorboards in both our bedroom and halfway down the hall have completely warped causing lovely little speedramps all over the place...we also can't close our doors properly in the affected areas.

Does anyone know what our rights are in this situation? I'm presuming that the builder should pay since it's obviously seriously dodgy plumbing? We don't have house insurance yet so thats not an option. We are covered under HomeBond insurance though?

Any input would be appreciated as I'd like to have an idea on what our rights are before I contact the builders again..

Thanks,
Michelle

As far as I am aware the Homebond insurance wont cover this. It only covers the structure.

I think legally once you sign the papers and receive the keys, you have accepted the apartment to be in satisfactory order. This should have been spotted by the snag list that you did. It would be up to the builder to decide if he wanted to replace the wooden floor boards, but I dont think you have much to stand on and with the builders feeling the pinch and alot of apartments empty , they might not be so quick to want to replace them.

All you can do is keep pushing your point, but it is really up to the builder to decide if he wants to be nice or not !

alexandra12 said:

This should have been spotted by the snag list that you did.

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Thanks for your reply but I don't think something like this could possibly have been caught on a snag list! To spot it we would have had to cut a hole in the wall and check the pipes which we obviously would not have been allowed to do.

DubShelley said:

Thanks for your reply but I don't think something like this could possibly have been caught on a snag list! To spot it we would have had to cut a hole in the wall and check the pipes which we obviously would not have been allowed to do.

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Did you run the water during the snag? I had a leak that was caught during snag because we left all taps running for a while - mind you builders did a botch job of fixing it and I ended up fixing it myself anyway.

Id imagine you will have to swallow this one. Homebond wont cover it. You didnt have any insurance in place yourself (hindsight being a wonderful thing and all that - have insurance in place before you move in next time).

If its only the bedroom and hallway it might not be expensive to replace the floors yourself - it might also be worth asking whoever installed them if its possible to plane them (are they solid wood?) rather than replace them.

Sue the builder and plumber, they are both insured and should have a 1 year warrenty on their work.

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, all taps and shower were left running to ensure they were ok during the snag. The leak didn't occur until we were in the place a week.

Anyway, problem solved. Just called the builder there and they will replace all damaged floors and possibly the en suite wall where the pipes leaked and caused damp.

I guess I'm lucky with our builders!

The floor boards will most likely dry out, shrink and return to their former size? I have seen it happen before! The problem may fix itself.

MacTheKnife1 said:

The floor boards will most likely dry out, shrink and return to their former size? I have seen it happen before! The problem may fix itself.

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Thanks but in the worst part they are literally lifting about 10 inches off the floor...so the chances of them shrinking back are fairly slim

Hi Shelly,

by the sound of your post the floors will need total replacing whether they are laminate or solid.

The water is trapped under the floor and if left to dry out would take weeks or months even to do so. The floors expand when in contact with water. If it is about 10 ins up off the original subfloor then there is no room for it to expand any more and has become tight to the walls where the floor is laid (perimiter) the smell of the dampness will spread all over your apt also.

Recently I lifted a floor for a client with this same problem. In his case the builder made the plumbing contractor foot the bill. if the builder is refusing to pay out for this tell him you are going to contact a solicitor to seek legal advice and mention to him that you hope you dont have to move out while this problem is being rectified. Hopefully that may make him see this problem from your point of view.

They should be made accountable for their own mistakes not you.

Best of luck..................willie