Plumbing nightmare HELP!!

Naaktgeboren

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Having an absolute nightmare and hope someone can help :(

We had a new bathroom fitted 2 months ago, it was an expensive although essential upgrade due to our youngest son's needs and the fitter did a great job.

Roll onto yesterday evening, my wife told me that there was a drip coming through the ceiling in the living room (drip is exactly under the bath) I had a good look and there is a great bloody sag in the ceiling in that area!

I have had a good look at the bath and the only thing I have noticed is when looking down the waste hole, I can see water... It does not appear to be draining properly. In fact, it has been like that from day 1, I just assumed that the bath took longer to drain than our old one.

The fitter is coming out first thing in the morning, naturally I want the problem fixed in the bathroom and the living room ceiling fixed... I don't care about compensation etc.. I know he has liability insurance so this should be ok right?
 
The water you can see Is supposed to sit there. Your waste pipe has a u shape just below the sink/bath that catchs and holds a small amount of water to make a air seal so no gases come through the pipe. I.e if the water was not in the trap you would be smelling all the poo's drifting down in the sewer below.

Same reason you have water in the toilet to.
 
Roll onto yesterday evening, my wife told me that there was a drip coming through the ceiling in the living room (drip is exactly under the bath) I had a good look and there is a great bloody sag in the ceiling in that area!
Just because it is under the bath, it doesn't mean the water is coming from there. Water will find the easiest route it can.

My kitchen ceiling had brown water marks on it and they were right under the batch. Took the bath panel off and it was bone dry under there. It turned out the water was coming from the toilet and making its way to under the bath somehow below the bathroom floor.
 
You may want to move stuff away from under the sagging ceiling, put a bucket under and drill a small hole.
 
Empty wheelie bin under the sag and drill a hole. If it's a permanent drip then it's either a Hot, cold or heating pipe. If it's only when appliances are in use then it's a waste pipe.
 
Empty wheelie bin under the sag and drill a hole. If it's a permanent drip then it's either a Hot, cold or heating pipe. If it's only when appliances are in use then it's a waste pipe.
Pro tip right there!
 
Probably a push fitting has come lose. Happened in our newly fitted bathroom on the hot water supply. Wife shouted downstairs that the hot tap had stopped running on the bath. I walked in the kitchen and it was like it was raining. Water coming through all the spotlights.
 
If you're going to drill a hole and there might be water coming through the drill hole don't use a mains drill or you could electrocute yourself, use a battery drill.
Dave
 
Just seen your picture , did you manage to catch the water ?

There was surprisingly little water, seems the plaster board had absorbed a great deal of it, was a mushy mess. The ceiling caved in this morning, the fitter arrived shortly afterwards and broke it away until he found a leaking pipe (or so he thought) He was quick to state that the pipe was not his work so we went the insurance route.

Plumber came out this afternoon to inspect although wasn't convinced, checked the wash basin cupboard and found a leak! Repaired the service valve and re-washered and the leak stopped... basically the leak had been running down the pipe and exiting at the point the kitchen fitter had spotted.

Ball is back in his court now, best case scenario for us as we don't have to involve our insurers and pay the excess, rather happy about that :)
 
Why the hell didn't the bathroom fitter have a look in the basin unit??
 
Why the hell didn't the bathroom fitter have a look in the basin unit??

I have no idea, he assumed the pipes were related to the bath and took the panel off, saw it was all good so settled on the pipe theory :/
 
Typical.
 
Stupid situation that was :( Got hold of the plumber who fitted my kitchen, pointed out that the leak was from the wash basin and asked him what he was going to do about our ceiling. He replied back to me stating that when he finished the job, he checked twice and it was dry and that although his 12 month guarantee covers work and parts, we have had a shower pump fitted since and this had probably caused it and we should go through our home insurance.

Told him no, the pump was installed properly and all other taps are working fine, asked him who his business insurance was with and that they are welcome to have a look at the installation and that we were not prepared to pay our policy excess for his problem.

He changed his stance at that point, saying he didn't want to go through his insurance as it would push his premiums up, he has a plasterer coming tomorrow to measure up etc and he will pay it out of his pocket.

I get the impression that he does not have business insurance...
 
Probably trying to make you feel guilty because you are costing him money! Hope the plasterer does a decent job.

Was there any other damage?
 
Sorry what has the person who installed your kitchen got to do with the fault in the bathroom?
 
Probably trying to make you feel guilty because you are costing him money! Hope the plasterer does a decent job.

Was there any other damage?

We moved everything out the way when the ceiling started to sag, no damage bar the ceiling .

Did leave up some artwork that my wife loves which I absolutely hate.... not a mark on it though... gutted :D
 
We moved everything out the way when the ceiling started to sag, no damage bar the ceiling .

Did leave up some artwork that my wife loves which I absolutely hate.... not a mark on it though... gutted :D
YET !
 
Glad you managed to minimise the damage. Just a thought, but you have a stippled ceiling at the moment (well, what's left of it is stippled). I can't help thinking that this could be tricky to patch invisibly. You could consider talking to the plasterer about repairing the patch with plaster board and then skimming the whole ceiling so that it's flat. That way it truly would be an invisible patch. Don't suppose it would make much difference to cost (unless the ceiling is massive!)
 
Did leave up some artwork that my wife loves which I absolutely hate.... not a mark on it though... gutted :D

I gather that splashed plaster can be a bugger to get off :devil:
 
The pump was installed after the bathroom was finished?

Which potentially caused the leak?

To be fair to the Plumber, if he's connecting a tap to a low pressure system and there are no leaks when he checks. Can he be held responsible for the fitting when the pressure is increased?
 
The pump was installed after the bathroom was finished?

Which potentially caused the leak?

To be fair to the Plumber, if he's connecting a tap to a low pressure system and there are no leaks when he checks. Can he be held responsible for the fitting when the pressure is increased?

Our hot water pressure is/was tiny, the taps are rated at 0.5 bar all the way up to 5 bar and the pump is providing 2 bar's of pressure. The pump works on a switch and is only turned on for showers.
 

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