Burst pipe underground!

Dades

Hi folks,

Heating stopped work last week and had a plumber around yesterday to confirm my worst fears...

An underground water pipe between my boiler (in shed) is leaking causing pools of water to form in my courtyard (from the flowerbed). The shed is about 8' from the house, and the courtyard is paved - which means it will have to be dug up and relaid if the pipe is to be replaced.

My plumber can't handle the work - who should I be contacting? Another plumber? A builder? Insurance will pay, I just need to find someone to do it...

Any thought etc, thanks!

(Mods, move or close if not allowed).

Dades

*Actually - found a crowd in Blackrock that said they could look after it.*

Any other thoughts welcome though...

JamesM

See if they can run the new pipes along a wall, maybe boxed in. A small area might still need to be underground, but you might avoid digging everything up.
Jim.

Dades

JamesM wrote: »

See if they can run the new pipes along a wall, maybe boxed in. A small area might still need to be underground, but you might avoid digging everything up.
Jim.

That's a great point, Jim.
Depending on where the pipe enters the house, there's a possibility of avoiding some serious digging. There is a wall to run pipes around. I'll mention it to the guys coming to quote me.
Cheers.

mazza

If you do end up digging, be sure to check your home insurance policy covers the cost of at least some of the work.

We had a similar problem - which actually turned out to be less severe than feared - and AFAIR the insurance company said they'd cover up to 500e-odd of costs to locate the leak, including digging.

They wouldn't actually cover the repair to the pipe, but that cost would be trivial compared to the cost of digging etc.

Worth looking into...

Dades

Just bumping my thread here with a development...

I came across this Irish crowd "Insurance Works" on the web who claim to look after claims from start to finish by liaising with your insurance company, and their contractors. According to the guy who came to the house today they've been in business for circa 18 months. The guy reckons our job can be dealt with, even if it gets messy, and it won't cost us anything.

Anyone ever dealt with them, or even heard of them?

A bit of digging reveals their web domain was registered by "JND Building Contractors".

CHEERS.

blackbox

Take the opportunity to insulate those pipes very well.

...used to live in a hose built in 70s where the snow would melt along the line of the pipes between the boiler and the house.

istaunton

Dades

How did you get on with insurance works???

Joey the lips

Saw this happen before the plumber disconnected the pipes at both ends poured in leaksealent and pumped it around a homemade loop. It worked brilliant! having said that its not something I would rec. Make sure its one continous length of pipe if you can. Copper and GB i am sure comes in lengths of 8 foot or as in copper 5 meters which is 10 foot.

Another solution is to run a spare pipe anongside for the future just in case, but prob overkill

Joey the lips

blackbox wrote: »

Take the opportunity to insulate those pipes very well.

...used to live in a hose built in 70s where the snow would melt along the line of the pipes between the boiler and the house.

Yes I agree. or run the pipe underground inside another pipe insulates like 1.1/2" waste pipe

John mac

Joey the lips wrote: »

Yes I agree. or run the pipe underground inside another pipe insulates like 1.1/2" waste pipe

this thread is over year and 3 months old!

i presume its done by now.:)

Joey the lips

John mac wrote: »

this thread is over year and 3 months old!

i presume its done by now.:)

I know I got that but pulling up cobble work! I would say the job will be done in august! when the groundwork lads are on hoildays

Liam885

this is repy to the burst pipe under ground. I had a problem in my house i had a leak in the bathroom. So i contacted insurance. It was the pipe going to the toilet and in the mean time i hear of insuranceworks on the radio so phoned them. They were only in the door 10 min and wanting me to sign contracts, found them pushy so i said would call them. Then i searched the internet and saw this company www.homeinsurancerepairs.ie they do damage assessment. I found there service to be good they dont charge any fees, they done all my reports and quotes up and i had them ready for insurance company. but the main point is just be weary of companies that are trying to push contracts on you. im glad i looked around.

Marcanthony

I was the the original person that called to view the damage at this property. Due to these issues of leaks and insurance . I set up a company that deals in the expertise of plumbing , heating and insurance covering Leinster and Munster. http://www.insuredrepairs.ie/plumber_dublin.htm http://www.insuredrepairs.ie/plumber_cork.htm

Kashkai

I had a leak in my house that entailed digging up the concrete floors to find it. Insuranceworks were the crowd who I engaged to deal with the insurance company, find the leak, fix the leak and complete the reinstatement. The result was they couldn't find the leak, left the floors dug up for two months and obviously didn't do the reinstatement after I finally dispensed with their services.

I subsequently found the leak myself, fixed it, filled in the floors and redid the painting and flooring. This cost me approx €400 when Insuranceworks had agreed on a figure of €4,000 with the insurance company. Its no wonder insurance costs are so high in this country.

Marcanthony

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I had a leak in my house that entailed digging up the concrete floors to find it. Insuranceworks were the crowd who I engaged to deal with the insurance company, find the leak, fix the leak and complete the reinstatement. The result was they couldn't find the leak, left the floors dug up for two months and obviously didn't do the reinstatement after I finally dispensed with their services.

I subsequently found the leak myself, fixed it, filled in the floors and redid the painting and flooring. This cost me approx €400 when Insuranceworks had agreed on a figure of €4,000 with the insurance company. Its no wonder insurance costs are so high in this country.

There standards must have dropped since I left in 2008 to form a company specialising in plumbing , Heating and Insurance repairs. Finding and repairing leaks can be difficult sometimes (but not impossible) . However before any repairs take place the client should be given or they should request a full detailed scope of the work / methods to be used and an approx time scale to repair including the price. This will prevent problems with repairs and been badly advised in relation to the services been provided. When the cause of damage is not visual or the cause is uncertain to the provider or their rep they will request a report to ascertain the cause of damage (from a trade or professional. The claim is validated around the report) . The claim can not be dealt with as a valid claim untill your providers rep (adjuster) has this report.It will validate the claim as an insured peril. (sometimes it may not be an insurable peril.For example ware and tear and you will have to bear the full cost yourself).THE LEAK MUST BE FOUND BEFORE A REPORT CAN BE WRITTEN.

Also to repair and find the leak your policy would have only paid you for trace and access to find the leak (approx €1000) and if this cost you any more (its down to you to pay for it).The remainder would be to reinstate the property for the resulting damage once the claim is confirmed as an insured peril .(Reinstatement and Not a patch up job). However that depends on the standards you desire .Your provider is allowing for a a reinstatement as stated in the policy.

However been left for 2 mounts with holes in your floors is unaceptable and its good to hear you managed to rectify the repairs yourself.But just bear in mind if you recieved funds from your provider to carry out repairs in full (reinstatement) and you did not (patch up). You will not be able to claim again for them as a resulting damage.But if you just billed for a patch up job you should have no issues with resulting damage in the future.

The insurance provider or their rep will only pay for repairs necessary to reinstate your property that is covered within the terms and conditions. At prices relating to the current market with the relevant trades. So this should not have any effect on the insurance costs in this country been so high as you stated.However billing for patch up work and doing the repairs yourself free of charge instead of a reinstatement by tradesmen might keep costs down (this would depend on the individuals standards).
Insurance is peace of mind incase of the unforseen and to restore your property to original condition after damage has been caused."

If anybody reading this thread needs advice in relation to any issues highlighted in this thread. (leaks and Insurance) Please do not hesitate to PM myself.