I am in the midst of a dispute with my insurers regard damage to the main copper water feed. The problem first came to light when we could hear water running in the bathroom.
We employed a plumber who removed the shower tray etc but could not indentify the source of the "leak". He then made a couple of excavations in our lounge (the water piper is laid under the floor) and finally came to the opinion that the actual damage to the copper pipe, which was in a four inch clay pipe, was beneath the foundations laid with the original building in the 1960's when it was a tied cottage. Since then an exension has been added onto the building and the original kitchen, where the pipe was traced, changed to being the lounge.
Anglian Water tested the water supply and it was approx 3.4 bar at the stopcock reducing to 1.5 at the rear of the building and zero if a tap was turned on. The said that the leak seemed very significant with a large loss of water and I was adviseed to only turn on the water when needed.
The water pipe was laid in the floor and went through the wall into the bathroom and then into the present kitchen.
I submitted a claim to my insurers and they arranged for a "surveyor" from Catalyst Services UK who came out and looked at the hole and nothing more i.e no structural survey, but he seeme to indicate that we would have a claim.
They have now said, amongst other things, that the the Catalyst Services UK "surveyor" in his report stated the damage to the copper pipe was due to ground movement. I live in Essex and the property is built on clay.
I hope someone can give me information on how likely it would be for ground movement to have caused damage to the pipe, given we are on clay and the copper piper was in a four inch clay drainage pie.
We employed a plumber who removed the shower tray etc but could not indentify the source of the "leak". He then made a couple of excavations in our lounge (the water piper is laid under the floor) and finally came to the opinion that the actual damage to the copper pipe, which was in a four inch clay pipe, was beneath the foundations laid with the original building in the 1960's when it was a tied cottage. Since then an exension has been added onto the building and the original kitchen, where the pipe was traced, changed to being the lounge.
Anglian Water tested the water supply and it was approx 3.4 bar at the stopcock reducing to 1.5 at the rear of the building and zero if a tap was turned on. The said that the leak seemed very significant with a large loss of water and I was adviseed to only turn on the water when needed.
The water pipe was laid in the floor and went through the wall into the bathroom and then into the present kitchen.
I submitted a claim to my insurers and they arranged for a "surveyor" from Catalyst Services UK who came out and looked at the hole and nothing more i.e no structural survey, but he seeme to indicate that we would have a claim.
They have now said, amongst other things, that the the Catalyst Services UK "surveyor" in his report stated the damage to the copper pipe was due to ground movement. I live in Essex and the property is built on clay.
I hope someone can give me information on how likely it would be for ground movement to have caused damage to the pipe, given we are on clay and the copper piper was in a four inch clay drainage pie.
