Due to some tiles becoming misplaced in our shower, we've managed to accidently flood the flat below's bathroom (with water dripping from their light fitting).
Our shower has been repaired and no longer leaks but obviously has caused the people downstairs to have to shut off their electricity supply.
What steps now need to be taken (UK regulations)?
Do I need to get some sort of certification from a plumber that my shower no longer leaks?
Or is it just a case of getting an electrician in downstairs to check that the wiring is no longer affected?
Is there any other certification required?
In any case, how does and electrician go about checking such a problem and what is the likely cost (UK)?
As I'm a tennant, my insurance is contents only. My landlord has to deal with anything 'structural' and anything that comes with the flat. If the damage is slight, I'm sure he'll want to deal with it without getting insurance people involved.
Being the one in the middle and keen to keep the neighbours on the friendly side, I want to make sure everything goes smoothly so I'm trying to help them deal with my landlord who can sometimes be a little slow to react to situations (what landlords aren't). If I can get all the facts together, I'll be in a better position to speed things up and stay in both parties good books.
This is a classic problem. Turn power off. Open all boxes and light fixtures and allow wiring and devices to dry.
Perform physical examination for damage. For a very complete check ( not always done) - disconnect all devices, etc and megger wires at 500 volts from wire to wire and from wire to ground then reconnect. Turn power on. Check to make sure everything works. Turn power off. Reassemble. Turn power on. Check to make sure everything works.
Cost depends on size of installation. But an average time would be about 40 hours at shop rate if there is no damage.
Not for your neighbour. But some form of warranty from the plumber for the work that he has done is a good idea in case a leak re-occurs. (Although he will probably find that it is from another part of the sytem than the one he repaired...)
There may easily be water damage to thermal insulation, to the plasterboard of the ceiling lining, etc. It really does depend on how much water, for how long, the structure of the ceiling etc. There was almost certainly a pool of water on the topside of the ceiling plasterboard which drained down through the hole, under which was the light fitting. Any bulging, bump in the ceiling, showing the plasterboard has sagged? Only if it was a tiny amount of water for a very very short time can you assume no damage has been done.
However, that is your neighbour's problem and not yours - unless you deliberately or negligently allowed the shower to leak.
The electrical aspects are usual the least of the problems and the least expensive to fix..
From the electrical pov, an electrician would probably take down the fitting and visually check it for water, corrosion, etc. Then do a couple of electrical checks on the circuit. Depending on the fitting, he may simply replace it as the cost of the fittings can be very little (depends on the fitting, of course). As it is a bathrooom, he would almost certainly check that all the other safety requirements, eg bonding of pipes, fittings, safety notices, etc were being complied with.
If there were no problems, I wouldn't expect it to take more than an hour. However, these check often reveal all sorts of skeletons...
What it costs varies greatly depending on location, size of the company and what is found. Down here in rural Devon, it would possibly be 50GBP for a local. Central London it could be double that.
If he owns the flat below as well, things are a lot simpler..
I can't believe that the neighbours would accept no lighting for very long at all, let alone no power...
It was a DIY job requiring little more than a bit of silicone sealant. I've tested the whole bath/shower area by sticking dry newspaper underneath the entire bath area. Not a single wet patch even even applying the shower directly to the seals. Three proper showers later and still bone dry.
Not this time. Fortunately, the leak was obviously a bad seal around the bath. The dampness under the bath cleared up pretty quickly once the leak was identified.
No idea of how long it's been going on but the ceilings appear to be solid concrete with a little rendering to smooth things out.
The flat below, from the look of the people living there, belongs to the council. Most of the block is privately owned these days but there are still one or two council tenants left.
Things could have been sorted out earlier but they're only in a few hours per day and aren't really willing to be flexible about times when people come around to check their place. They must be staying elsewhere because they were adamant that they didn't want it fixing over the weekend. To be honest, they're a bit clueless (I'm not much better but at least I'm trying to work out what needs to be done).
Still, that gives me a couple of days to let the place dry out more and more time to find someone reasonable.
Get the hell out of the middle! You should not be finding anyone. The problem is the landlord's to fix, not yours. By putting yourself into the middle of things, you make yourself potentially liable. At a minimum, the neighbor can be mad at you for what he perceives as your ineffectiveness (or whatever other word) *because* you are involved. It's like this: if I tell you to use "Joe's Electric Repairs" and Joe does a bad job for you, I'm the bad guy for advising you to use Joe's. If I say I don't know who would be best for you to use, I'm not to blame.
Your attitude can be friendly and interested, but you should display no specific "technical knowledge". The only thing you "know" with respect to the problem is that the landlord has to get someone to fix it. Additionally, you should be on his/her case to get a professional repair in *your* apartment. That DIY repair, without requesting the landlord to get it repaired properly,
2) "Dry out" with cotten waste or equivalent.
3) Spray WD-40 on wires and in fixture (keeping spray off any glass.
4) Wait for WD carrier to evaporate
5) Put things back together and get it the smoke test.
Of course, the problem in the UK is that the voltages are twice as high as in the US. This makes leakage more important.
Since everything can be opened at once, etc. it should not take more than 2 hours and perhaps less than one hour.
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