A MUM was left with water pouring through her ceiling “like rain”, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage, after a council worker tried to fix the toilet’s flush.
Katie Hill, from Basildon, had put her “blood, sweat and tears” into revamping her newly decorated home on Stagden Cross - only to find water leaking through her ceiling, light fittings and down the walls on Tuesday.
It came after a repair job from Morgan Sindall, Basildon Council’s contractors, who had visited to put a new a button on the toilet in her upstairs bathroom.
Ten minutes after the worker left, Katie discovered the toilet had overflowed, with water running into the basin so fast it was coming over the top of the toilet.
Furious, the 39-year-old says what was a simple repair job instead left her upstairs like a “swimming pool”, and was horrified to see her three-year-old daughter playing in the water.
She said: “All they had to do was replace the button on the lid of the toilet, there was nothing wrong with the toilet itself and he wouldn’t have needed to touch the inside.
“I was sitting downstairs and I could hear dripping, but when I got up and looked it was running through the ceiling like rain or even a waterfall.
“I opened the bathroom door and it all came out onto the floor. It was just overflowing out the toilet and I had to put towels everywhere. I even had to turn the electrics and water off, and it was coming into the downstairs toilet as well.”
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Katie’s kitchen and toilet ceiling is now damaged, along with the laminate flooring in her hallway which will need replacing.
The carpets now also need to be professionally cleaned, and she is even worried she’ll get mould.
She continued: “It’s so frustrating, I’ve just had the entire house done except for finishing the kitchen and downstairs bathroom.
“For the sake of a £5.99 button this will cost hundreds of pounds in damage, which they should be paying. It’s just made it ten times worse.”
A spokesperson from Basildon Council said: “We are aware of the issue and have been supporting the resident. Morgan Sindall attended Tuesday night and again yesterday morning with a supervisor to look into what happened.
“The issue has been rectified and continued assistance is being given to resolve.”
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