Super disaster - water pipe burst, screed damp

Thank you for the tip!

If he wants to, he will know exactly why. If he has to, it could be, for example, about time and damage prevention, probably a must.

Still, one wonders how we can reliably determine how far it has progressed. For that, leak detectors and SVs are already appropriate. Handling it independently is absolutely the exception, I would also be cautious with that.

Best regards Gabriele

Thanks for the note! I didn’t phrase that well enough. This is not advice to handle the water damage yourself! Nevertheless, the term Schadenabwehr already exists, of course, it could freeze again next night.

As the initial question, I assumed the diagnosis was requested:
"The question now is, how do we reliably determine how far it has still progressed?"

For that, leak detectors and SVs are already appropriate. I don’t think he wanted to regulate.

Best regards, Gabriele

Hello everyone,

first of all, thanks for the responses.

Of course, I don’t want to and will not regulate it myself. What should my insurance have to do with it? The house was handed over to us 3 months ago, so if a burst pipe after 3 months is no longer covered by warranty, I really don’t know anymore….

The general contractor and the plumber have already made that clear, there is no discussion about it.

The cause was an improperly installed safety clip on the bathtub inlet. We have a concealed fixture on the bathtub (which is still leaking after the third repair attempt, but that wasn’t the actual problem), from there a pipe goes to the bathtub inlet. This pipe connects to the bathtub inlet with a quick release and is secured with a clearly visible, bright yellow clip. Or should be secured, if the (insert your favorite wild insult here) isn’t so stupid that they don’t push the clip on properly. Let’s not even talk about such intellectually demanding ideas like additionally securing this clip with tape. That would completely exceed the horizons of these blockheads.

Anyway, yesterday when filling the bathtub, a large part of the water did not flow into the tub but accumulated in the cavity under the tub and from there made its way. Definitely into the screed insulation and probably also into the screed itself.

The insulation in the bathroom is completely soaked, the water has to be standing there practically. This also explains why water ran down along the bathroom drainage pipe into the basement and also why water came out of the ventilation openings in the ceiling of the ground floor. The affected openings are located in the bathroom from above.

There is probably also water in the hallway; initial moisture measurements showed slightly damp walls there. That would indicate that water has already been leaking out repeatedly for some time; within a few hours, Poroton bricks actually don’t absorb water up to 25 cm above the raw floor.

That can also explain why our parquet in the upper floor hallway and bedroom has been creaking more and more lately. I had blamed it on changing temperatures and humidity, which was probably a wrong assumption…

After consulting with my carpenter today, I removed the baseboards in the affected areas so that vapor can escape from the gaps between the parquet and the wall instead of being absorbed by the parquet. And if the parquet starts to lift at the edges in the next few days, it’s clear that it will have to be removed.

The drying specialist was already here, but due to the screed thickness of 18 cm, he can hardly measure anything. Drilling is necessary first.

So we will have drying devices in the house for many weeks and the uncertainty whether it is really dry or if later we will have mustiness and mold in the place.

Just great….

Regards,

Andreas

In short, greetings

Hello Andreas. The water damage is, if I judge correctly, quite extensive. If the trade is not yet accepted by you, then think carefully about how you will proceed. The problem solvers who blow pre-warmed dryer air into the screed construction and condense the water again in the room itself with condensation dryers do not give you any guarantee that the situation after drying corresponds to the condition before the water damage occurred. This means: the companies do not assume any warranty for a permanently dry floor structure. If you accept the building like this, a future risk with all costs also transfers to you. Forced drying of water-damaged screed is always associated with great uncertainties. Because the concrete ceiling or floor slab beneath it can naturally have large unevennesses. And it does! They are not visible "from above" when insulation and screed have already been installed, but water usually stands in these depressions. These areas are inaccessible; their exact location as well as the degree of moisture cannot be determined. What can happen? The drying measure is eventually considered completed for some reason, with general agreement from all sides. The parquet or flooring installer performs their residual moisture measurement with sample material from the screed structure and is also satisfied. Only months after installation (elastic covering as well as parquet) do the first negative symptoms appear. We are talking about "defects" here. A reinstallation may be necessary; all previous construction participants first look at each other, then at the approval you signed at the time. No need to scare, that should apply here as well. The situation on site should definitely be assessed by an expert in the field of "flooring technology" who can approve the further steps. Although they also cannot see through the screed, they know how to help themselves based on other parameters which are hidden to the layman in detail but facilitate their assessment! --------------------------- Regards: KlaRa

Hi,

@ all, the house has been accepted, we have been living in it for three months. There are still minimal remaining works to be done, but these are not related to the water pipe break (things on the exterior plaster that could no longer be done in December due to frost).
We are therefore under the warranty obligation of the general contractor.

@ Klara,
thank you for your reply, even though the tone does not really please me. But it matches my assessment: In principle, this means that the screed insulation drying is some kind of makeshift work, whose quality neither anyone can guarantee nor check.
The "clean" solution would therefore be: move out of the house, remove large areas of the screed on the upper floor and then start over...

What a sh***...

Regards,

Andreas