The story so far-

Discovered we had a leak as could hear water moving through the stopcock in kitchen,

rang insurance who informed me we were insured for the water damage but not for locating and fixing the leak.

I discovered a leaking pipe under the concrete floor slab in the kitchen,

i had to get up some tiles,

take out kitchen units and dig up a section of floor to access pipes and temp fix it.

We the noticed the walls behind the units were very damp and mouldy,

the skirting on the wall opposite was also then noticed to be swollen (mdf) and the mdf wall paneling in lounge had bowed out.

All walls were plaster board dabbed onto top of original plaster.

An assessor from bvs came out,

agreed was a genuine claim and were covered.

Gave me an estimate for refitting units,plaster repair and to re-tile floor.

I mentioned that the tiled floor seemed uneven,

advice was to get tiles up so drying company could come out,

if slab had moved it would be cracked and need replacing.

Tiles were removed and large cracks were found,slab has raised due to swelling of the sub soil,

was told to send in pics,

drying company put on hold.

It has taken 2 whole weeks to access the pics to decide it just needs drying and latex screed put on top!

I have had a company in to quote for floor and they agreed it needs replacing,

sent them an email with the quote and they are insisting the drying company still come out,

are they on commission???

Last few days have taken some walls down to bare brick as the plaster board was very damp and had black mould on the back of it,

original plaster just crumbled off.

Have today discovered the laminate floor in the lounge near the party wall is also water damaged as it has swollen up,

joists are wet along with the sub soil,

nasty damp smell aswell.

Advice im after is if after the drying company has been out and BVS still say floor only needs a screed over the top and do no nothing about the laminate flooring what is my nest move?

Are loss adjusters like morgan clarke worth using???

Its now getting on for a month since the claim was put in.

lots of stress,

house in a mess and nowhere to cook properly.

Hope the nightmare ends soon,

next insurance company will be one that does not use BVS,

as not impressed with them so far!

Water damage is always more than expected.

They know it and that's why many insurance fix the leak and the surrounding areas very quickly so the customer doesn't see all the damage.

In your case the file is still open and you have found further damage to the original claim.

It needs to be bundled together.

Don't be in a rush, as you can see after many weeks the joists are still wet.

The drying company, although experts in humidity, are not experts in flooring. I wouldn't get an Assessor company like Morgan Clarke as they will want their cut, which usually means requesting cash settlements so you would be out of pocket...

What I would do is get your own builder to come and do a quote, specifically advising what needs doing to put you back in the position you were in immediately before the loss.

To me though it looks like they want to put a screed above the uneven concrete floor to even out, then they would re-tile over that?

Have a word with the adjuster to see if that is correct...

After 2 weeks they finally agreed to replace the whole floor !

I was also advised i can claim for the kitchen unit carcasses we removed as during removal basically collapsed,were bandq flatpack ones the inserts which go in the cams to join them together basically pulled out,maybe due to the chipboard being soft from the damp,also signs of water ingress in the side panels.

Been to bandq and this style of kitchen no longer available so could we claim for a whole new one?

Also our lounge walls need the plasterboard replacing but the bottom third of the room is covered by mdf decorative panels a section of which is now warped/expanded.

Its in the scope of works to replace this section but it is no longer available from where we purchased it from,its fitted to every room in our house.

What normally happens in this situation where the original wall coverings are no longer available?

After 2 weeks they finally agreed to replace the whole floor !

I was also advised i can claim for the kitchen unit carcasses we removed as during removal basically collapsed,were bandq flatpack ones the inserts which go in the cams to join them together basically pulled out,maybeo due to the chipboard being soft from the damp,also signs of water ingress in the side panels.

Been to bandq and this style of kitchen no longer available so could we claim for a whole new one?

Also our lounge walls need the plasterboard replacing but the bottom third of the room is covered by mdf decorative panels a section of which is now warped/expanded.

Its in the scope of works to replace this section but it is no longer available from where we purchased it from,its fitted to every room in our house.

What normally happens in this situation where the original wall coverings are no longer available?

Unless you’ve paid extra or have a good policy you’ll have the matching items exclusion, which means they won’t pay for the non damaged items. However the FOS ask insurers to offer 50% of the unmatched items as a compromise.

This will apply for the kitchen, I can’t see it working for the mdf though. You can try.

I cant see any mention of a matching items exclusion anywherr in the policy.

Next step is get quotes for the work and if more than they offered send them

In, also a quote for a kitchen fitted.

Ball is in their court then

Flat pack kitchen cabinets are all the same.

Only the doors are different.