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Water leak - Self fix - BIGGER PROBLEMS

7 years ago

Hi all,

First post and I need some help and guidance please.

One week ago I noticed the tile around my toilet was cracked and there appeared to be mold on the drywall above the base board. I pushed against the dry wall and my finger went straight through it. Upon investigation there was a water leak from the line going to the toilet.

I decided to fix it myself as I did not think it would take much more than fixing the leak, replacing some drywall, and replacing a tile or two. After getting down closer to the problem I could see that the sub floor was wet and that water appeared to have made its way underneath our fiberglass tub (directly beside the toilet). I ripped out the toilet, tub, and tile in the bathroom to see the extent of the damage. The night after the demo, the PVC cap I had put over the water line for the tub split and water poured into the bathroom. For hours, not sure how many, but hours of water gushed into the bathroom and under the house.

After fixing the water line burst, I called my insurance agent the next morning and told him what had happened. He said that he would only pay for a water treatment company to come and remove any moisture from the areas in the bathroom and from under the house but no more. He recommended I put fans on the area and get under the house and remove moisture.

After doing as he recommended I continued my demo today and my water problem is much worse than I thought. As I was trying to pull up the sub floor my pry bar went straight through to the underneath of the house. The entire area around my toilet is rotten and still saturated with water.

Now to my question, should I be able to get insurance to pay to fix it or will I be out of pocket?

Featured Answer

PRO

Joseph Corlett, LLC

7 years ago

Insurance companies, like the friendly cop that pulls you over, are never your friends.

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Comments (9)

kudzu9
7 years ago
Maybe your insurance company is different, but in my experience insurers pay for unforeseen catastrophic incidents -- a burst pipe, a burglary, a tree that fell on your house, a fire -- not for damage from a slowly occurring problem, especially one that they can argue is something you should've noticed and addressed long ago. I wish you success, but I am pessimistic about your chances of filing a successful claim.
badgergal
7 years ago
It might be a good idea to actually read over your insurance policy to see for yourself what it says. I would also ask for an adjuster (not your sales agent) to come and look at the damage.

My son had a leak in his second floor bathroom which damaged the ceiling in his kitchen below. He had to tear out the tub/shower wall tile and the tub to get to the source of the leak. That tub/shower tile matched the tile wainscoting around the whole room and was no longer available. Taking the cast iron tub out involved removing floor tile. Just like your leak, the project became complicated. Neither he or I thought it it would be something that his homeowner's insurance would pay for, but a buddy of his told him he had a similar situation and his insurance did pay.

My son did make a claim and it was successful. The insurance company ended up covering the cost of demo, the labor and materials for the new pipes, flooring, walls, valves, faucets, shower base, toilet, sink, vanity, tile and more. It also paid for fixing his kitchen ceiling. If my son hadn't upgraded to a few things like granite counters, heated floors and glass shower doors his insurance settlement would have paid for nearly the entire repair/remodel.

It doesn't cost anything to file a claim so I highly recommend doing so. Hope you end up getting some satisfaction.
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The fixtures are in remarkable condition which lead's me to think they will not be difficult to disassemble. I take it you own and know your way around tools so here we go. First off since you are only having a little by-passing at diverter,let's only do it to see how things go. The worst that can happen unless you get crazy is you make the diverter worse but there's no flood and surly you can take tub baths for a few days without drowning. Set handle at mid way between tub and shower. Hold knob while removing screw. If handle doesn't slide off with a little pulling and wiggling,pull while tapping with metal object from behind. After handle stem cover are removed you will likly see one small plus one large place for a wrench. Don't mess with small nut,that's to adjust packing in case water leaks around stem. Use a box end wrench or deep socket (6 point preferred but certainly not nessary)to remove stem. O-rings and washer are self explainitory but seat that remains in fixture can be tricky to remove and difficult to find replacement for. If you don't see shinny scratches on seat you might get by without replacment. The seat will have either square or hex hole in center. Seat wrenches are inexpensive but if you are carful,seat can be removed with ever day tools. Allen wrench for hex and an old manual operated wood drill bit for square. Just make sure it fit's and keep it straight or you risk damage to new soft brass seat while installing. While stem is out,lub stem where it go's through packing plus course threads that pull and push stem when handle is turned. If that go's well you can put new washers in hot and cold before they start dripping ( don't forget to adjustmid-way open and closed while removing and reinstalling). Good luck
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kudzu9
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
badgergal-

Good to hear that other people have had better experiences. I think it would be wise for the OP to carefully read over the insurance policy, as you suggested. Filing a claim is free, but the downside can be that some conservative companies can choose to raise premiums or even cancel if they don't like the claim history. However, if there is any chance this might be paid, the OP should proceed. What good is insurance if you don't try to use it when you have a problem?
badgergal
7 years ago
kudzu9, that was my son's first homeowner's claim in the 8 years since he bought his house. I am happy to report that it's been 2 years since that claim and his rates have not gone up. I'm not sure what insurance company he has. He is more than pleased with them.

Wishing you the best, Aaron. It looks like quite a big problem you have.
cooper8828
7 years ago
About two years ago my friend called her insurance to ask about possibly filing a claim on some relatively minor damage. She then decided to just pay for it as the total was only about $50 more than her deductible. Her rates were increased. When she called to ask why, she was told it was because she had reported damage. Go figure.
User
7 years ago
Insurance is not for chronic neglect. It is for acute disastrous occurrences.
geoffrey_b
7 years ago
The insurance policy is a contract. Read the contract.
ILoveRed
7 years ago
Joseph is so right.

any claim is entered into the insurance database CLUE. Supposedly insurance companies are not supposed to enter information which does not involve a claim but if you report damage I'll bet it is entered.

http://www.kiplinger.com/article/insurance/T010-C001-S001-check-a-home-s-insurance-history.html

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