Dealing with a leak in your home, you will come across the term “Trace and Access”. It sounds self-explanatory; you need to locate (trace) the leak and then get to it to repair (access) when dealing with an insurance claim for water damage this becomes complicated. This is where a professional, specialist leak detection company is the best method of locating a leak and dealing with insurers.
Trace and Access steps are:
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Leak Detection is carried out
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Access of leak is made
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Independent Plumber attends to repair
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Insurance loss adjuster attends to agree scope of works
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Drying is carried out with dehumidifiers
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Restoration works
Grasping the details is important…
It is no good lifting floors in the hope of finding the leak in the expectation that the insurer will pay for the cost of the works and put your home back together. Insurers have a limit of cover and do not pay for speculative works without a proven reason to cause damage.
A good insurance policy will include “Trace and Access” cover, normally for £5000. This covers the costs of leak detection and any damage caused in accessing the leak.
Please note that some insurance policies on price comparison websites have trace and access cover removed and excesses increased to appear cheaper when you are in fact buying poor cover. We recommend that only policies with Trace and Access cover should be considered, sadly many only realise this after a leak has occurred.
The insurer will only cover trace and access after the damage has been caused by the leak. However, the leak is often hidden, and it becomes impossible to prove without our leak detection equipment. We can use our leak detection technology to locate these hidden leaks and detect damage not visible to the naked eye.
Water damage from underground leaks is like an iceberg, and you may only see 10% of the leak damage!
The role of a leak detection specialist is to find the leak without causing unnecessary damage to your home, produce a report that explains where the leak is and present this is presented to the insurer. At this point, insurers liability can be established, and access arranged. Often access is made within a few days as it is the duty of the policyholder to mitigate further damage.
Now trace, and access has been carried out, the leak is exposed and ready for repair.
You might be surprised to hear that we will not repair, even though we could charge for it…why?
Trace and access insurance cover only trace and access activities, a repair is classed as maintenance and is not covered even if it is a 20p fitting, carrying out these repairs at low cost or even free was tried. Still, insurers want to see an invoice explicitly for the repair, or they can argue the trace and access cost.
Sometimes a temporary repair is made, but in all cases, a proper repair with an invoice is required to satisfy the insurer that the leak has been correctly repaired and also who is responsible for that leak should it fail…why we also do not recommend a permanent DIY repair.
Some companies will repair, and we recognise that this is more convenient for the occupant and profitable for the company. Still, we do not see this as best practice for the above reasons and not jeopardise the claim for the sake of profit or convenience.
As you can see, it should be simple but rarely is. This is where having a specialist in leak detection is vital to safeguard what is likely your most valuable asset and one with considerable cost to maintain or repair.
UK Leak Detection offer Specialist Leak Detection carried out as part of broader trace and access works, we can deal with both parts or work along with your plumber to locate the leak, and they can repair it. We can also tie this in with dealing with the insurance claim as a whole if you wish as we work alongside a couple of excellent claims management companies who offer an excellent way to get your home back in order while getting all that you should through insurance.