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As a useless feeble woman who has never had a problem like this whilst living alone in privately rendted accommodation can someone tell me what the etiquette is here.

My kitchen is flooded.  Water is pouring through the ceiling from the bathroom above.  I've stuck a load of towels and a duvet on the kitchen floor to try to prevent, as much as possible, dripping into the flat below.

What does one do in such situations - should I just call the landlord, or is it up to me as the tenant to get a plumber out (not that I can, I'm skint).

Any urgent advice welcomed please.  God it's been a crappy day.

tell the guy upstairs

and the landlord

Phone Landlord QUICK!!!  It's coming from the flat above, so it's the Landlord's problem to sort you out.

1. Turn water off
2. Ring landlord.
3. DONT PANIC

Get cossie on and have a dip.

Your bathroom or someone elses?

what bullseye...erm...target...erm Newportlad said.

electricity off

it's not coming from flat above, it's coming from my bathroom (my flat is split level).

Don't think there's any need to turn water off - it's stopped coming through now.  I cleaned the bath and left the tap to run (it runs cold for a while), then stuck the plug in and started my bath running.  Popped downstairs for something (god knows what now) and saw it all pouring through ceiling - it's stopped now.  Must be a broken pipe under bath. 

Don't think it's an emergency as such now, but will ring landlord - am i right then that it's his responsibility to sort out and pay for plumber, not mine?

all of it, or just the lights?

don't fancy sitting here in darkness with no computer or telly either

It's not coming from her apartment.  It's coming from the one upstairs.  And only reason I say quick is so you don't end up with 2 loads of laundry out of the deal from trying to dry it up.

If its a broken pipe, then its almost certainly the landlords responsibility.
If on the otherhand, you let the bath overflow......

erm..I don't know about english law that much but I expect it is upto him to sort it out. In Scotland I've always had problems like this sorted out by my landlord when I was renting

it is coming from my flat - see above :)

Just scrolled   rotflmfao

Still Landlord's job/expense, so don't delay ringing them.

right - so what's the concensus?  Do i need to turn of rany electricity (it's coming right through the kitchen light fitting, so I didn't intend turning on the kitchen lights).

yes as you also have your fridge and all that there. just turn off the power going to the kitchen though

ground floor, I would switch power & lights off

I'd just switch the breaker for the downstairs lights.

If the water has stopped flowing, you should be fine.  Let it dry now.

Just spoken to landlord (who happens to be an electrician by trade).  He's coming round tomorrow to look at it.  He thinks i'm ok to leave electricity on, just not to turn on kitchen lights (obviously).  I think I'll play it safe and not use anything electrical in the kitchen tonight.  Just as well I've been sick today and can't face food anyway :(

if ceiling is bulging make a hole in the bulging area with knife make a + with the knife then push broom handle through.that will allow water to come out in 1 place, it should be the landlords responsibility but he could take a while to get someone to fix it personally id leave light on until and it blows turning the switch off wont disable the power as they have whats called a switch live going to it it which will remain live after switch has been turned off,if your worried then turn the breaker(fuse) off which serves that lighting circuit,if its not labled turn them off an on again 1 by till you find the right 1.
don't run bath until fixed if your really really stuck then let us know and I'll see what i could do as i am a qualified and trained plumber doesn't sound to serious probably pipe dislodged from trap.hope this helps

Thanks CIA.  No bulge.  There's really not a whole lot of water now it's all stopped - just looked like a hell of a lot as it was pouring through the ceiling.  There's no bulge and it's stopped completely now.

The kitchen light wasn't on - I've turned the braker off now and lit some candles - do you reckon it's safe enough to put the lights back on at the mains then to avoid a tighty style accident with a naked flame?

Canoe believe it...

yes if you have circuit breakers all that will happen is the breaker will snap back off there could be a tiny flash from breaker if it does but dont worry then u will know if the lighting circuit is ok.if they are ok and some water has got into fitting just put fan heater under it facing up to dry it out.

catch a nasty monkey bug?

if you do have tighty type of accident get photographic evidence to prove  it

LOL perv!!

lol no no no not like that to disprove doubters

yes wearing something tight and pointing to the ceiling with both hands helps, doesn't it?

perv :)

stop casting aspersions on my good character

Nothing to see here.  I've identified the problem (my fault), and fixed it (very simple).  Thanks to CIA - his post made me realise what I'd probably done.  Doh.  Wish I hadn't called the landlord now - could have got away with it.

CIA'S A   HERO ,CIA'S A HERO  ;yippee; ;yippee; ;yippee; ;yippee; ;yippee;  ;letsparty; ;letsparty; ;letsparty;

call sark.........

i'm back for one night only :)

careful!! ;)

1/2 HOURS OUT OF HOURS SERVICE + £275  + PARTS

Why so cheap?  Mate's rates?

;)

I thought you had no internet access tonight?  I'll have to behave myself now :(

I shall ring landlord in morning and tell him it's all ok now - plumber friend looked at it and fixed it.  Won't tell him it was all my fault though.......

right - after all that, I'm now going to have a second attempt at having a relaxing bath.  bloody well need it now as I'm a very stressed and sweaty person.  I know you all wanted to know that.

what was the problem?

why? ;)

despite quitting my job two weeks ago and moving a million miles away from my old office i am currently sitting in my ex-bosses chair with all the lights off with my laptop plugged into their broadband connection  ;whistle;

50% DISCOUNT FOR THE ELDERLY ;angel;

WOOOHOOOO I HAVE A FRIEND

hmpf.  not after the elderly comment you don't.

DOH  :'( :'(  WELL I HAD 1 FOR 10 MINS

ok.  so you can all laugh at my stupidity.

My bath takes ages to drain - like half an hour.  it's been pissing me off.  I've tried that sink and plughole unblocker, I've tried a pluinger.  No joy.  I decided to have a dig around tonight to see if I could physically remove whatever crap is blocking the pipe, so I unscrewed the plug whatsit and had a dig about.  Couldn't find anything.  Screwed it back on, and started to run tap.  Hey presto - I must have inadvertently fixed it - water's draining like a dream.  Leave tap running for while (takes a while to get hot), then stick plug in while bath is running.  Come downstairs to find water pouring through ceiling.

put down towels etc.  Panic.  post on here.  Read CIA's post and realise I might not have fixed problem after all - probably not screwed the wotsit back on tight enough and the connection to the waste pipe might be lose.

go to bathroom, empty bath with jug, tighten screw, all fixed.  I say all fixed, still taking an age to drain, but back to how it was anyway.

PROBABLY BLOCKAGE IN PIPE CAUSED BY FEMALE HAIR AND SOAP EASILY FIXED WITH WHATS CALLED A CURLY WORM WHERE YOU SPIN A FLEXIBLE ROD DOWN WASTE PIPE.

before you say anything Boldie!! ;)

can i pick one of those up fairly cheaply and do it myself?

Doesn't monkeyboy have one?

B&Q £20 http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9285488&fh_view_size=6&fh_start_index=6&fh_eds=%3f&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b10052%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b10092%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b10093%7d%2fspecificationsProductType%3dPlumbing+Tools&fh_refview=lister&ts=1201729128587&isSearch=false

lovely.  cheers

might be better to take trap off and push it str8 down the pipe the trap is probably gunged up as well so clean that out

Claire, if you had a husband, you wouldn't have to bother sorting any of this out yourself.

why some men are more incapable at plumbing than women would be,I have succesfully trained a female apprentice

charging you a 100£ a week now, is she? ;)

No way much more

In an exceptionally rare moment of doing something around the house..........and believe me when I say rare......I decided that I can dismantle the waste disposal unit to get to the spoon which was inadvertently trying to run away from chateau Snat.

So with my trusty helper Adam (he can get to all those awkward places......he tells me it is not so bad as in a previous life he was sent up chimneys and forced to talk with a ridiculous cockney accent) at my side we manage to disconnect the waste disposal from the waste pipe.

We then manage to undo the butterfly nut at the far side of the waste disposal and miracle of miracles take said appliance out of the cupboard. We then undo the bolts on the top half of the disposal unit and get the spoon out and also give it a good clean as it does tend to get a bit rank after a while.

Everything is going well and cheeky boy and I are taking our time putting it all back together so much so that to ensure that the waste disposal is flush to the hole in the sink we reset it three times which involved a lot of grunting, from me, a lot of swearing, from me, and skin off young Addies knuckles. Bless.

Anyway it is all done and just to make sure we fill the sink with water and take out the plug..............oh no too late without thinking it becomes apparent very quickly that we have not attached the waste disposal back to the waste pipe......kitchen floor covered in water.........father and son laughing hysterically..........it took ages to clear up and Mrs. Snat still thinks I did it deliberately to ensure I never have to touch it again.........she could be right.

Which is why us plumbers charge so much,to ensure men all over the world live an easy life!

worth every penny IMHO

thanks Snat - good to see I'm not the only incompetent DIY plumber round here :D

I'm going to go and buy one of those curly wotsits later.  Hopefully I won't be posting another disaster story later.

wear gloves whilst doing it and make sure you clean the worm afterwards,there is a bit of a knack to doing it but basically you push the worm down the waste until it stops. then using handle spin the worm through the blockage,
try to work out the length of waste pipe u have to rod before it reaches the soil stack/discharge point.When your done and the worm is recoiled in housing spray worm all over with WD40 to stop it rusting.

that all sounds very complicated!

Not when you know how,would be easier to remove trap on bath and do it.

I have a whole range of disaster stories of which I have shared a fair few on here..............my favourite still being beaching the car in Spain this summer

in case you missed it

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=26674.0

right - i've been out and got one of those curly wotsits.  It'll go in about 10 inches without meeting any resistance (as the actress said to the bishop), then it's hitting something solid - I presume this is where the pipe bends.  I've tried probing in all directions and I can't get it to go any further, and I presume the blockage is further down.  Any ideas?

Vaseline? 

Bar that, call a plumber.

you could always try the rampant rabbit...........  ;whistle;

good idea - the blocked plug can wait :)

rotflmfao

right u have to push it in and out to try to force it round the bend its a bit like a bloke trying to find the 'G' spot awkward at 1st but once you get there u can always get there,

and after you've done that you can go back to trying to unblock your plug................  ;whistle;

you cant actually unblock a plug as it is a water retention device you can however unblock the trap and waste pipe FYI

I got it all the way in, and no joy.  Can only presume the blockage must be even further down in the system

Bad beat.  Go again.

is the worm all the way down as far as it can go cos its about 10m long and your pipe shouldnt be that far from the soil stack.

Double-entendres gallore!

rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

I must've got the wrong type - it's only about 2m long

It reminds me of when i had a call to sort a problem with a womens pipes,i rodded as hard as i could and ended up splitting the diaphragm at which point there was a big gush of fluid from the orifice that was open,she screamed stop cock to which i replied i cant let go now  she screamed can you get to the valve and twist it and i told her that i think the nipple might be split and might need replacing,i told her that i would have to have a proper look at her system when the fluids had stopped and that it could well smell fishy but my box spanner wouldn't fit so i reached for the screwdriver but my bender was in the way.Eventually i managed to stop the tidal flow of water and ensured she had regular servicing as to avoid the problems.........

doh do you know how far the stack is away from yr bath?

A women asked me for a double-entendre. so I gave her one.

I don't even know what one of them is, never mind how far away it is!

follow the toilet waste pipe until it reaches a verticle pipe that is the main stack it might be encased in  a boxing or it might be on the outside wall you should then be able to judge how far away from the bath the stack is

right - the waste pipes from the toilet and hand basin both lead to a boxed in area in the corner of the bathroom, which I guess is where the main stack is.  It's about 4 feet from the bath (tap end)

therefore you should be able to rod the entire length of pipe into the stack try twisting the worm as it goes in and when you pull it out look at the end to see if there is any residue on it

OK - will give it another go.  cheers

 ;popcorn;

nope - no good.  the things got a big bend in it now too which I can't get out of it.  I suspect what happened before when I got the whole thing in was that it was just doubling and tripling up on itself. 

It's time for today's bath now, so it'll have to wait a while longer.

ok just make sure everything underneath is connected and if when u pull the plug out and it leaks just put the plug back in and then i'll tell you another method

Any Luck?

I've just given up on it for now tbh