Category: Tips & Advice

How to Recognise Signs of Subsidence

Owning a home is a great joy, but you may not necessarily feel the Earth move. Yet move it does, and one of the big problems this can lead to is subsidence. Knowing how to spot subsidence symptoms can help you take early preventative action to protect your home from sustaining serious damage. 1. Look for cracks It’s best to start with the obvious. Any new cracks appearing in your

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Underinsurance

At PCLA we have noticed in recent times during claims we are handling that there is an increase in the number of property’s which are underinsured. Most of the time the property owners we are representing have not been aware that this is the case until we are in the middle of the claims process when at this stage there is very little that can be done to rectify this. 

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Trace and Access of an underfloor leak

Underfloor leaks are a common occurrence in Ireland as all our pipework tends to be hidden under the floor normally in concrete or under suspended flooring on ground floors. Several years ago plumbers had to jackhammer up concrete floors trying to trace and access leaks for repair purposes. This could involve removing undamaged floors and then policyholders expected insurers to pick up the bill for everything. At the time Plumbers

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Have you had an oil leak?

This month at Property Claims Loss Assessors Ireland, we have come across several oil leaks. Oil leaks are very common at this time of the year because the temperatures are starting to drop after the summer so people are getting a fill of oil & turning there heating back on.  Oil leaks can lead to extensive damage to your property, health problems & environmental issues, so here at PCLA we

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Dangers of Hot Weather

We certainly always appreciate hot weather when it comes in Ireland. However, the chances of accidental fires increase as the weather gets hotter. Everything like burnt grass all of a sudden becomes combustible. Recent gorse fires in Sleeve Bloom mountains would have the hot weather to blame. Even household items in garden sheds can be dangerous. Flammable Substances Flammable and combustible products are used for a wide variety of purposes

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What a Terrible Winter

Probably one of our worse and prolonged winters ever. However, in recent weeks the weather has picked up and the country is drying out nicely. A very wet winter followed by a very dry summer can have an effect on the ground conditions below your property. As an example if your property is founded on expansive clays, these clays will expand as the groundwater level rises and contract when the

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Damaged Ungerground Drains?

Underground drains service every property with plumbing services. They service the sink waste pipes as well as toilets and showers etc. How can you tell if theses drains are leaking or damaged? Foul smells in your home Cracked / dropped pavements or landscaping above underground drains. Cracks in house or garden walls above underground drains All of the above could also be caused by the incoming water mains leaking. The

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Is There a Smell of Oil in Your Property?

Sometimes People don’t realise that they have an oil leak until a neighbour or friend visits and says there an oil smell in the house. People with internal oil boilers or agga cookers may not realise that the feed pipes are leaking. Hydro carbons can affect people’s health especially someone with breathing difficulties like asthma. The clean-up of these leaks after the pipe is fixed can be very costly as

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What’s the Difference Between a Loss Assessor and a Loss Adjuster?

There’s a lot to consider when making an insurance claim for the first time. Part of this is simply trying to figure out who does what in the claims process. Here at PCLA, one of the most frequent questions we get is about the difference between a Loss Assessor and a Loss Adjuster. Loss Assessors and Loss Adjusters are both insurance professionals who assess and give advice on claims. However, there

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Can you Claim for Damage to your Home Caused by a Neighbour?

This can be a complicated issue. To simply just claim may require the neighbour to do have done something negligent. In the above picture a neighbour’s pipe has been leaking for a long time. If the neighbour is advised of the issue and doesn’t repair this could be deemed as negligence. You now have two choices: Simply retain a solicitor to sue the neighbour. This could take years and even

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