ᐅ Living Room Flooded – Just Two Days After Handover!

Hello everyone,

I am quite new to the forum and unfortunately, a really unpleasant incident has brought me here.
We bought a house located in a newly developed area where a total of 160 houses were built by one company.

The interior finishing work was carried out by subcontractors, with whom we were still able to plan some final details.
In the main bathroom, we decided not to install a shower fitting and planned to install it ourselves instead of buying the expensive one from the bathroom company.

So, at the handover on Wednesday, the fitting was naturally not installed yet, and the pipes coming out of the wall were exposed but sealed off.

So far, so good! When I returned to the house for the first time since the handover yesterday, there was a large puddle in the living room on the ground floor, and on the ceiling, there was a big water stain around the cable intended for the dining table lamp.

I immediately called the construction company, who told me to contact the plumbing company. I did that, and a technician came to find and fix the cause.

The problem was with the pipes in the shower in the bathroom above. The plug that was supposed to seal them was not watertight, and water leaked behind the wall, traveling through the cable slot down into the living room.

For now, it is fixed and no longer dripping, which is good. But the bad feeling remains, and we don’t know how to handle this situation.

Neither of us knows anything about such issues, and the plumber just says, “No problem, it will dry out in a few days. The wall is made of calcium silicate brick, which absorbs and then dries the water, and the ceiling between the ground floor and the first floor is concrete, so nothing will happen!”

However, we are worried that water is now inside the ceiling cavity, which cannot dry properly. We are afraid of mold or other problems that might develop in our brand new house. We already expect that the construction and plumbing companies will downplay this. We would feel better if an independent building inspector could take a look. Who would have to pay for this if necessary? Can the plumbing company be held responsible since they caused the issue?

Thank you in advance, and I look forward to your helpful advice!

Best regards and have a foot-dry weekend

jessica

Start professional drying of the building immediately and document the damage thoroughly. I cannot predict whether you or the company will be responsible for the costs.

It’s better to heat the space a degree warmer and ventilate well once the professional (!) drying process is complete.

Good luck—if you handle it properly from the start, it should be manageable.

Maybe have an expert assess it right away, also for documentation purposes. But start as soon as possible with the large construction dryer.

Thank you for the quick response! Renting a construction dryer over the weekend is not that easy. I’ll see if I can find one.

In any case, use a moisture meter (surface moisture meter) to measure and document at consistent points at regular intervals.

Certain floor coverings, such as luxury vinyl tiles or design vinyl floors, can swell. This may cause damage. It is advisable to document this for insurance purposes in case of issues like water damage from plumbing.

Turn on the heating in the rooms or set it slightly higher. A dehumidifier is also helpful, followed by airing out the warm, moist air. There are small temperature and humidity meters that can be placed in the rooms. These are available from major online retailers, often sold in packs of 5 or so.

Tiles already installed?

The company Sprint specializes in this and operates throughout Germany; unfortunately, we also had to use their services.