General Chat

Its raining badly and rain water is coming into my living room via the light switch. I know this sounds strange but its coming out under the switch and running down on the skirting board. The lights were flashing on and off so Ive ben told to turn them off at the fuse box. Havent a clue if I can turn them on again when the rain stops or how the rain is getting in. My husband is out on the road so I cant ask him. (I can, but cant get hold of him I mean).

RomanyStar, unless your OH is a qualified electrican, don't even let him touch anything. Call in a qualified electrician. Some household insurances have an emergency help number, if yours does, call it.

Thankyou ladies much appreciated. We're enting from a housing association so have phoned them, took so long to get through but someone is 'hopefully' coming tonight. We only moved here in June. :-(

Hes just been and gone, he's taped the switch up (or something) on the inside so it cant be used, and disappeared. He said he cant do anything else as he doesnt know where its coming from. I dont know what I pay rent for. But hes put the other house lights back on at the fuse and said they're safe so at least we have light. Think its coming from the guttering but my husband will have a look at that. Makes me so mad, some workmen seem to walk all over women. Thankyou Ice xxx

Hi Romany Star,

We had a similar problem not long ago.

My step-daughter had been sitting on the floor in the lounge watching telly and she came up to me and said her pants were wet, she had gotten changed. I asked her where she was sitting and she showed me. I felt the carpet and it was all wet.

We found that the water was coming in through one of the power points, which earlier in thay the kids had their playstation plugged into so thank god no-one got electrocuted. The whole wall was wet as well.

Turned out the problem was the flashing on the roof had not been done correctly when the house was built and because we were having a storm the wind and direction the rain was coming from meant it, the rain, was being forced under the flashing and down the wall cavity and out of the power point.

Luckily our friend is a plumber and he fixed the problem with the flashing and then we had some carpet people come in, the pulled back the carpet and had one of their big fans going on the wall and floor for a few days until everything dried then they relaid the carpet for us. We had to get the wall painted to as it left water marks that could be seen.

So sounds like you will probably have a similar problem. Get someone to check out your roof etc and they will probably find the area where the water is getting in. Hopefully it will be easily repaired for you.

Annie
xxxxx

Hi RS,
if you're renting from a housing Association - it's up to THEM to find out where the water's coming from - that's what you pay rent for.
Phone them in the morning, explaining where the water was coming in to the living room, and that the electician's taped up the switch - but insist someone comes out IMMEDIATELY!
The electrician may have taped the switch up, but this doesn't mean water isn't still in contact with the electrics.

Have you checked elsewhere in the house as the water could be coming down to other areas and plugs/sockets too

Take care

Lizx

I agree with you Maggiewinchester. Just because the electrician has taped up that switch, does not mean that the water won't be in contact with any other wires. This is very dangerous. I would get your rental authority to get someone there urgently.

This is an issue where the danger is "unseen", in that you can't see what else the water is damaging.

Please take care and restrict your use of any electricity until it is all sorted.

Annie
xxxx

I agree with Maggie, ring the housing association in the morning and insist that they come and check. If they show any signs of not doing so in a hurry, tell them you will contact the Health and Safety at your local council That will shift them1

Are you in a house or a bungalow?

The feed to a light switch always (well, nearly always) comes down vertically to it, usually in a plastic or metal (in older houses) conduit.

The water will be getting into the end of the conduit above the ceiling, so there is a strong possibility that you have water collecting in the loft which could bring a ceiling down.

You need it checked out NOW, the electrician has fobbed you off with a quick fix but the main problem, the water ingress, is what needs investigating.

Brian, that's the way I was thinking when I asked about checking the rest of the house. It's disgraceful the way the H.A. people have fobbed the family off.

Lizx

Oops Ive only just realised I had more replies, apologies people, I wasnt ignoring them. We're in a house. The bedroom above the lounge seems to be ok, there was a water mark on the wall when we moved in but it seemed quite old and we've had no problem since. My husband has now cleared the guttering and a workman has been out to fix it. Ive phoned up again re: the light switch and they're sending someone out to fix it in a few days. Its an older house Brian, its not on the 1911 census but I think it must have been built not long after. Thanks for your considerate messages folks, the thought of fire while we're asleep is terrifying :-(