Finding the source of a water leak in a block of residential apartments

Warwick, Warwickshire

The problem

After returning from a two week holiday, our client immediately noticed a large damp area on their kitchen ceiling. The ceiling had begun to sag and water had just started to drip down onto the floor. Our client’s home was a first floor apartment and the damage was already extensive.

Our approach

A water leak of some form was obvious. What was less obvious was the source of the water leak. Was it from a pipe that was part of our client’s apartment, or was the water leaking from an apartment above?

An initial investigation revealed water from the second floor apartment. However, further investigation also revealed that the residents of the second floor apartment had also suffered damage and the water was probably originating from above the second floor.

After speaking with a number of residents, the source of the leak was discovered with an acoustic microphone scan. A fourth floor resident had a leaking washing machine drainage pipe. The leaking water had travelled down multiple floors and had settled on the first floor.

Even though the residents shared one common buildings insurance policy (that was put in place by the owner of the freehold), we could work with all of the affected residents to rectify the problem.

We were employed to repair the leaking drainage pipe that belonged to the fourth floor apartment. This was a simple repair. However the damage to the first floor apartment was extensive. There was little choice for our customer but to make an insurance claim.

The solution

The first stage was to dry the damaged area of the first floor apartment. We quickly installed equipment which dried the area over a period of several days. In the meantime, our damage repair team quickly created a scope of repair works, ready to be passed to the client’s insurer.

Once the kitchen was sufficiently dry and our scope of works had been approved, we quickly set about repairing the damage caused by the water leak. Parts of the ceiling and wall had to be removed and re-constructed. This was not a simple process, but within three weeks the repair works had been completed.