You are here: Case Study - Finding and Fixing a Leak. Part 3 The Restoration
Case Study - Finding and Fixing a Leak. Part 3 The Restoration
Wednesday 28th August
Howard the builder arrived to fill in all the holes and trenches that had been dug in the kitchen floor to remove/change pipes. He also brought the industrial hoover and by the end of the day the floor was restored, and the rubble gone. There was still a lot of dust but at least it was settled and not swirling about getting into everything. Bliss.
Next came Mark the decorator. The kitchen looked so forlorn without the cabinets and lots of paint peeling from where the units and work tops had been removed. We had decided to change the look of the room, which was currently cream, and had been trying out various colours in patches on the wall. We had initially gone for something in the posh paint range but had finally settled on Potters Clay 3- which doesn’t tell you anything but turned out to be a pale grey. Mark had his work cut out putting together a detailed quote to submit to the insurance company - who I was sure would no doubt quibble. We had taken lots of photos to evidence the damage. The plan was to start the painting once the floor had been sealed and latexed and before the tiles had gone down. Then he would come back once the kitchen had been re-installed and finish the paint work and doors. He went off to ponder the costs.
Thursday 29th August
The floor was sealed. What a difference it made. We could finally get rid of all the dust and wash down the remaining wall cabinets. Sadly, there had been some warping of the wall cabinet doors - I had wondered how they would survive their desiccation in the drying phase.
Friday 30th August
We spent the day cleaning the kitchen and utility room. It was all covered in a thick layer of dust and the space where the cooker had stood had the added bonus of a thick layer of grease. It took us a few hours to get back to some semblance of cleanliness and order, even though we knew there would be more disruption and dust to come, I felt much happier once we had removed what was there. In the afternoon Richard the electrician popped in to remove the control panel and power supply to the defunct electric heat mat that had been under the flor and some old Sky connections on the wall. We received the detailed quote from the decorator and sent it off to the insurance company along with the bill for the paint, 20L of Potter’s Clay 3! No doubt they will want to argue about it, but we had the photographs of the current state of the room which should help.
Monday 2nd September
It was a beautiful day and Mark had arrived bright and early to start the rub down and prep for the walls and ceiling. Immediately he started with the painting, the room looked so much better. By Thursday he had put the colour on the walls and we could start to see how different the room was going to be. The colour was lovely but not quite what I imagined. It appeared on the colour sample to be pale grey but on the walls, it was a whole range of colours depending on the light and the time of day. First thing in the morning it looked very pale grey, in sun light it looked blueish and with the lights on it had a pinkish tone. Who would have thought watching paint dry could be so interesting!!
Friday the floor tiles were delivered. The builder said it was about a ton, so I imagined that it would cover the whole of the driveway but actually it turned out to be a smallish neat (very heavy) stack in the garage.
Monday 9th
Hooray, the team turned up at 9am to start the new kitchen floor. It would take all week as it needs laying, washing, sealing, more sealing and then grouting. By three o’clock I could see it taking shape- the different shape and the layout of the tiles was excellent, and I think in the end I will like it every bit as much as the original.
I was just considering the day to have been a success when it all went down hill again. We missed a call from Morgan our claims handler at BVS. When Chris tried to call back we experienced one of those Kafkaesque conversations that seem to be a feature of call centre interactions everywhere. Chris was just trying to return a call at Morgan’s request, but the only number we have for him took you through a central switchboard where Chris promptly failed two of the many security questions which included “On what date did you make the claim?” and “What is the date at the top of your policy document?”. As Chris was not sitting in his office with all the relevant documents open, he didn’t get those two right. He was able to give his name, our address, the name of the person who wanted to speak to him and the contents of the claim but that did not tick the right boxes with the call centre. So sensibly Chris said – “well can you just let Morgan know I have tried to return his call and suggest he calls me?”. “NO” came the swift reply “as that would breach GDPR”. I would just like to add here, as a user of GDPR legislation on a daily basis, that is utter nonsense. So now we couldn’t even talk to the person handling our claim. No wonder people get angry and upset - common sense has left planet earth.
Sunday 16th Sep
We returned after four days away in North Devon. The weather was glorious, and it was good to leave all the mess behind for a while. When we got back all the work on the floor had been completed and now it was grouted it looked lovely. Our first action was to put the dining room table back in the dining room and have our dinner at a proper table rather than the plastic picnic table. It was nice to be back on a solid table, but the room was very echoey and felt strange.
Morgan called from BVS on Monday, surprised we had not been in touch!! Chris put him in the picture. He was as bemused as we were as to why no one had felt able to pass on our messages. We discussed the next steps and agreed we would need to see what damage had occurred to the kitchen cabinets before we could decide if any further work was needed. One of the cupboard doors was clearly warped and I could see some damage to the paint work in one of the cabinets stored in the garage. I thought it would need repainting, which would be no small job.
On Wednesday Pete and Bradley arrived to start reinstalling the kitchen. It was exciting as if felt like we were near the end but I should have realised that it had to get worse before it got better! We were back eating off the picnic table in the hall and access to our temporary kitchen had been blocked as the cabinets and appliances were made ready for reinstalling. So now we had no kitchen at all. In true Dunkirk style I took myself off to London for a few days and left Chris to work out how to get to the fridge and how to cook his next meal. I would like to report back that I had a very nice stay in a lovely London hotel but sadly when I checked in there was no hot water in the hotel for the time I was there.
By Saturday the kitchen installation was almost complete. It hadn’t been easy and there had been trips and slips along the way. It was necessary to take 1cm off the plinth at the base of the beautiful fitted dresser as the new tiled floor was fractionally higher than the old one. A small rubber button covering the on/off switch in the dishwasher had been lost along the way which was really annoying- although I seem to be the only one who was annoyed. The work tops had been sanded and oiled and they looked lovely. It was great to have the cooker back in situ - although as it was being manoeuvred into the correct position Chris and Pete managed to shear through the electric cable, which tripped the system, leaving them with red faces and us without power. Luckily Richard the electrician only lived in the next village and was available, so within half an hour it was all fixed. It was great to have a kitchen door once more and the fridge and dishwasher back on line and in use. Just needed the plumber to finish the utility room sink and plumb the washing machine back in.
It was now clear that the kitchen cabinets would need repainting. There were small amounts of damage on pretty much all of the units at the joins and at the tops and bottoms of panels where the plinths had been detached and then reattached. Mark the decorator was booked for the next Tuesday. The builder submitted his final invoice - we passed it on and awaited payment. No bill from the plumber as yet.
Friday 27th Sep
The last few days had been very busy with a flurry or workmen finishing bits off. We bought a new tap for the kitchen sink and moved the old tap to the utility room. Sounded like a good plan but it turned out the wall cabinets in the utility room were quite low due to ceiling height restrictions and the tap did not swivel the full 180 degrees across the sink and drainer. Was I bothered - I decided I was not, and as long as it worked it would be fine. I had noticed the kitchen floor was still quite porous and marked too easily. We had another conversation with the builder and he agreed, it needed another coat of sealant which he would do once the decorator had finished. By Friday lunchtime Mark had finished restoring the walls and woodwork - all that was left for him to do was paint the cabinets which we booked for the end of October. To celebrate we re-hung the clock and the pictures and put the all-important coffee machine back in its proper place - it was starting to look quite normal. As if by magic the cat had appeared through the cat flap and sat waiting for her food in the usual spot but was naturally disappointed her blanket and sofa were still absent. Once the floor was sealed, we could put back all the furniture from around the house and restore her favourite sleeping spot.
Thursday 3rd Oct
The final visit from the builders to seal the floor one more time and cork round the skirting boards. It did look a lot better and by the evening it had dried sufficiently for us to walk on. For the next few days we slowly moved all the furniture back into the kitchen and unpacked all the boxes of stuff out of the cupboards. Who knew we had so much stuff? It was a good moment to rationalise and find new homes for the excess bits and bobs. We definitely didn’t need so many glasses, baking trays, over gloves, serving dishes and kitchen utensils. It was also time to say goodbye to the borrowed fridge our neighbours had been kind enough to lend us - beautifully cleaned of course!
Sadly negotiations with the insurance claims handlers continue to be stressful. They were hard to get hold of and when we did manage to speak to them, they seem to start from the position of challenging everything and not wanting to settle the final invoices. The last conversations ended with some assurance we would get another interim payment soon. We also got the plumber’s final bill which was less than expected. It was not covered by the insurance but I was really glad we had all the work done as I could rest easy knowing we won’t have a repeat experience.
When I came down that morning to make the tea the cat was sitting back on the sofa in her favourite spot and it almost looked like our kitchen again.
Dec 2019 - post script
Mark has finished painting the kitchen cabinets - we chose Potters Clay 4 in the end which is a tone lighter than the walls. It all looked beautiful. Mark was great fun and we invited him and his wife for supper as a thank you and booked him to come back in the New Year to paint the hall stairs and landing.
We were finally paid by Esure after lots of ‘discussion’. They argued over every element of the claim and took no account of the fact that, but for the skill of our builder and kitchen fitter, the claim could have been significantly higher and involved replacing the whole kitchen. They were not easy to deal with and in the end we were out of pocket by about £2,000.
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