Real Stories

It wasn’t obvious as we opened the front door, but our lives were about to take a dramatic turn.  We had been on holiday and the house had been empty all week.  The first hint that something was wrong was a dank, musty odour rising from the carpet!  At first, we put if down to the house being shut up all week, but Oh how wrong we were. 

Stepping into the hall, the truth unveiled itself to us as our feet squelched on the saturated carpet.  “Whys the carpet wet”, I cried at my partner.  They didn’t need to answer, the look of horror on their face told me all I needed to know.  “We’ve had a water leak” they solemnly replied as the joy of our recent holiday faded into despair and a sense of delirium.  “Quick, where’s the stop cock, we need to turn the water off” I yelled.  A fleeting moment of confusion crossed my partners face as we both realised, we weren’t sure.  “I think it’s under the kitchen sink” they said as the panic level rose ever higher.  Thankfully, there it was hidden away behind the bleach bottles, laundry detergents and general cleaning apparatus we all designate to this space for want of anywhere else to put it. 

It was at this point I started to sob, probably not the best idea on reflection, did I really want to add my tears to the layer of water covering our floor!  Pulling my self together we started to move tentatively from room to room assessing the extent of the damage.  Downstairs, the carpets in every room were almost floating on top of the water.  Where the water had sat for some time it had penetrated the plaster board, absorbing a third of the way up the wall causing it to buckle and dis-colour. With dread we moved on finding room after room in the same condition.  Sofas, chairs, curtains, rugs, the kitchen cabinets, skirting boards, and much more would all need to be stripped out and replaced!   It was our worst nightmare come true; we were now in a house that was inhabitable. 

Thankfully, our insurance covered the damage less a considerable excess payment, but there’s no price that can be put on the disruption we had to endure.  I could never go through something like this again, I needed to find out if there was something, we could do to prevent water leaks.  How could we ever leave the house again without worrying we would return to the same thing all over again! 

Thankfully, I found a solution in the form of a wireless water leak detector and prevention alarm from Envirotech Alarms.  It ticked all the boxes, it was easy to install using special sensors that detect the presence of water, it switched off the water in the event of a leak and it showed on the alarm panel where the leak was.  The leak we had was caused by a poor connection on the dishwasher supply, putting a sensor under the kitchen cabinets would have picked this up straightaway. Having gone through this terrible experience, I would encourage everyone to fit a water leak detection alarm.  The heartache and disruption caused by water leaks are avoidable.  Do not wait until it’s to late, fit one now before you too have your own terrible story to tell.