Worrying Damp Patch

[ARWadsworth]

I have just spotted a very damp/wet patch in the dining room carpet. It is about 6 inches by six inches in size.

Now I have no CH pipes under this concrete floor and the closest two things with water to this damp patch are the beer fridge (it may have iced up and defrosted, it is not your normal fridge) and the dish washer. The carpet feels very slightly damp under the dishwasher but nowhere near as damp as the wet patch 2 feet away. The carpet feels very dry under the fridge.

My main concern is that it could be the incoming water supply to my house. If it is the incoming supply then who is responsible for it's repair? The stoptap in the street feeds four houses. Is it like drains where everyone shares the cost?

I assume that my buildings contents insurance will cover any major repairs if needed.

Cheers

Adam

[Phil L]

Have you peeled the carpet back to inspect the floor underneath?

Are you sure no one has dropped a drink there?

If it is the water main, then it's up to you to get it repaired - your household insurance may pay, but they may not. It's nothing to do with any of your neighbours, or the water board - you are responsible for it one it's inside the boundary of your house and/or garden, luckily it's not an expensive job to undertake. You need to dig a hole in the floor and find the pipe and the leak, turn the water off outside, cut either side of the leak and fit a piece of blue plastic watermain with the correct fittings, there are different ones for different diameters of lead, and also different diameters of plastic pipes, so you need to find out which type it is before you buy the fittings - any good plumbers merchants will stock all the different types and it will set you back about £30ish for the lot.

Then fill the hole back in and concrete over, not forgetting to put in some plastic DPM.

This is assuming the insurance company won't pay, if they will, just get someone in, but that's the process they'll employ.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "ARWadsworth" saying something like:

Put a pillow under her.

[Jules]

Hmm, try drying it. If it doesn't go away, roll the carpet up - it wouldn't surprise me if there isn't a stain on the backing so you can tell exactly where it originated from, and if it is coming up through the concrete it'll probably be obvious...

No chance it's from above? We had a leak during a bad rain storm last year and the water travelled quite a few feet from the actual source (promptly fixed once found!)

[ARWadsworth]

Not until Wednesday. I do know that the concrete floor is covered in a bitumin type covering and I will also need to remove a lot of stuff to allow me to lift the carpet. The girlfriend will empty and pack up the cupboards tommorrow and I will lift the carpet on Wednesday when I have no work on.

Yes, and the cats have not used it as a toilet.

Even if the neighbours supply is under my floor?

Sorry. I forgot to metion that my incoming water supply is 15mm copper as are the neighbours supplys (if that matters)

The hole is the easy bit. I have a Kangoo 900X.

Can I DIY with an insurance company? (if it is worth the excess)

I would take a photograph but The Medway Handyman broke my digital camera.

Adam

[Falco]

Adam,

Before digging holes etc, check any pipes and radiators in all the rooms on that floor. It's been know to have a rad leak in another room and the water has 'tracked' under the floor screed to the lowest level and show up there as a rather large 'wet patch' on the carpent - and in middle of the floor to boot.

First one I ever saw like that took a fortnight to find the source (a rad leak in the flaming kitchen) - and that was after digging up half the damn ground floor (down to over two foot in the wet area) - I alway check the odd-ball places first now before even lifting any carpets!

Falco

[ARWadsworth]

Most certainly not CH water. I have a combi boiler and the pressure gauge has not moved for two years from a 0.9bar setting.

Cheers

Adam

[js.b1]

Pretty waterproof, very tough, brittle - which helps if you need to get it up. Not particularly level, prone to humps & bumps - so the wet patch may well be from above & tracking. Can suffer defects and be patched so water if from below might be tracking.

Might be interesting, but probably mentioned in the deeds (like Loop- In supplies :-)

Ah, corroded copper in concrete - always a good one. My mother currently has an odd wet patch not under a washing machine, which appears to be a "fresh water spring" from the tiled wall beind. Looks like a shitty 2010 already :-)

I knew electrician's were not safe... "just doing a backbox"...

Many insurers have a free legal helpline so they can probably advise re neighbouring supply.

[Phil L]

This is asphalt and it's usually about an inch thick, which complicates matters a tad because the leak could be absolutely anywhere and the water will find it's way through the weakest point, which is where you are seeing the wet patch, but the actual leak could be six feet away IYSWIM

I've never known this to be the case, the 'main' main usually runs parallel to the properties with 'tails' coming off for each individual dwelling, but often with only one stop tap between a few houses.....do you mean that there's one main running under all the houses with a short tail to each homes' stoptap? - like I said, I've never seen or heard of this, but different areas had/have different bylaws so I suppose it's possible, but even so, you are still responsible for any pipes that run through your property, even if the leak is *after* your stoptap and obviously before theirs.

It might make things slightly easier, but if this is the case then it also looks highly likely that it is a watermain burst as underground copper is notorious for bursting at this time of year

A plumber / builder would probably charge you for two days, say £250, plus materials and expenses, so you wouldn't see much change from £350. If your excess is £250ish, it would probably be better to DIY if you have the time

[ARWadsworth]

I wish

This is not a Map of Tazi.

Adam

[The Medway Handyman]

Put a level on the floor. Could well be the leak came from the fridge or dishwasher & found its way to a lower level.

,

I've found exactly that. Damp area in hall 6' away from a downstairs cloak. Water had leaked behond some boxing in, gone under a partition wall and materialised at the lowest point of the floor.

Same thing happens with leaks on the first floor. First thing you notice is a leak coming through the ceiling - at the low point. Leak can be feet away.

[The Medway Handyman]

[js.b1]

snakes n ladders :-)

You dig a hole, you find the wet patch comes from one side of the hole so you follow it like a ladder, the snake comes where you think you have found it, go deeper, but it's not the source merely somewhere the water found attractive.

The deeds if available might shed some light on things re water pipe routes.

[ARWadsworth]

Well I went to take a photo of my Brothers decking for you.

A really good example of why decking should be used on steep slopes.

I slipped on the last bit of lawn that my brother left after we fitted the decking when I tried to take the photo and you broke my camera:-).

Some lawns are too steep, too slippery and NOT as good as decking.

Happy New Year Mate.

Adam

[The Medway Handyman]

OK, its a blond policeman.

[TMC]

Last time I had this sort of problem it turned out to be a leaking stop tap on the supply to the dishwasher

water ran to the lowest point

Always worth checking such things first as much easier than digging holes.

Tony

[Dave]

Some, lower down, suggest looking at appliances that use water, dish washer, washing machine etc. Try and find some light blue tissue on a roll, Kim Wipe is one propriety branded tissue, or visit your local supermarket and see if they have any outside the store for wiping the shopping trolley handles. Then use this to wipe any joint you can reach, or wrap some round the tip of a garden cane and swipe the floor at the back of the unit from the front, by going under to the back without pulling the appliance out. Water will turn the colour a darker shade of blue.

I lost a laminate floor in the kitchen due to the sink drain becoming detached and some water got out onto the asphalt floor and crept all the way under the whole flooring.

HTH

Dave

[geoff]

In message , ARWadsworth writes

It's not that cat we see in those videos you post, is it ?

for building insurance, read the small print, carefully

[<me9]

Very good advice. I had a leak several years ago in front of the dishwasher in the kitchen. It turned out to be the washing machine in the utility room, and on the opposite wall too. It had got under the lino and along a groove in the T&G floor, under the partition wall, and 'sprung' in the middle of the kitchen. No sign at first of a leak in the utility room, but fortunately the fault in the washing machine became apparent before the dishwasher was dismantled. A slight slope in a floor can cause the leak to 'move'.

[<me9]

Usually at a ceiling rose. Toilet leaks out above the dining table!