You might be able to find something to go under the dw similar to a cloths washer pan. 2nd, you could think about an alarm and/or water cutoff like for a cloths washer.

Stuff happens.....but not very often. For myself, I buy good equipment and have it installed/connected by competent people. The flood-event that probably won't happen is covered by my insurance policy and I refuse to worry further.

Otherwise, see weedmeister above.

Asolo is right. Sometimes people try to really over think things.

I use moisture sensors that trigger shut off valves. Even given insurance, the inconvenience associated with reconstrucing the floor would be a cost I'd rather not bear.

kas

Get a Floodstop

and 100sqft of extra flooring for match.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I appreciate your suggestions. It sounds like sensors and shutoff valves are the way to go.

Is it feasible to get one shutoff valve that can be triggered by sensors for both the DW and Refrig?

What part of the fridge do you think is going to leak? If you're thinking of the ice maker and the associated water lines, then the leak rate would be fairly low (drip drip). In this case, a sensor with alarm would be sufficient.

My friends had their new wood floor ruined by the DW. She started a load and went out to run errands. Meanwhile, the drain hose popped off / split and all of the water ran on to the floor. Floor ruined as well as the ceiling of the garage below. They replaced the wood floor with tile.

Is it feasible to get one shutoff valve that can be triggered by sensors for both the DW and Refrig?

Evidently, yes:

http://www.getfloodstop.com/product_p/xs-01.htm

XS-01
Extra FloodStop Sensor Pad
Only for use with FloodStop leak detection equipment.
Floodstop extra sensor pad to protect more than one area at a time or to "daisy chain" to extend your reach. 3' of wire.

Thanks again for all the replies. My son is the contractor and he suggested simply putting tile under both refrig. and DW and doing HW on rest of floor. That should allay my concern.

Just to explain my concern, I have had two major water leaks in past 10 years: one with washing machine and other with DW. Each required thousands of dollars of repair not to mention the inconvenience. Hence, when my wife insisted on HW in kitchen, I wanted to take some precautions.

I do agree with an earlier poster that if you do it right, you are much less at risk for damage.

Regards.

Jerry

One thing that I have found to be immensely useful is a sloped floor which helps me spot leaks immediately. Under the run of kitchen cabinets, I have huge size tiles (no point in having grout lines), sloped into the room not flat. The slope is nothing much, so it is easy to use the same size of adjustable legs under the cabinets. But whenever you add or change something in your plumbing, your floor tells you a few hours later if you made it watertight. Very nice feedback.

My plumbing today is designed to *show* problems now, not hide them. Compared to the invisible leaks I had 20 years ago, I now breathe dry mold free air. I figure it extends my useful life.

--

FWIW, some of the Thermador / Bosch family of dishwashers have a pan under them, and a floodstop device. For me it helped decide to buy one of these. (To know more about it, go read up on the manufacturer's web site before asking questions here please.)

I installed the DW all by myself, and saw that the brass connector to the water supply hose is positioned outside the pan. Duh. Go figure. Maybe a future generation model will have that possible leak point included above the pan.

--

Leaks are bad wherever they occur, and they can put mold into your house, permanently. You choose whether to reduce your risk, in certain ways. Although it is possible to overthink things and to build overkill installations, I am happy to help the analysis.

Hth

Slightly off-topic but........Since you're concerned about the possibility of water damage from leaks, you might take a peek at your hot water tank configuration, too.

Where I live, hot water tanks are all on slabs with no drain-path in event a leak. Of course ALL of these tanks will eventually fail in the same way -- the pressure-vessel inside will crack and they'll begin to leak, usually being noticed only when saturation damage has already occurred. This has happened to me. The consequence was thousands in damage and much aggravation. The replacement tank was placed inside a pan with drain-path to the outside.

In my system, multiple sensors for each of the various water feeds are distributed where leaks could occur for that feed.

So far, I've had no water leaks, but I have caught an overflow drip from a soap dispenser inside a cabinet.

kas

simply putting tile under both refrig. and DW and doing HW on rest of floor. That should allay my concern.

How will you train your water to stay on the tile?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Q8GRPG/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

Not as good as an automatic shut-off system, but an inexpensive way to add information.

It's also worth being sure everyone at home knows where the water shut-off valve for the whole house is, knows where to find the wrench to turn it, and has practiced doing that. The T-shaped "street keys" that let you shut it off from a standing position are cheap and possibly worth having around.

Davidro's larger point about keeping things visible is great. While I agree about insurance and all that, water leaks are highly disruptive, both the fast catastrophic ones and the more insidious slow-drip ones.

"....worth being sure everyone at home knows where the water shut-off valve for the whole house is, knows where to find the wrench to turn it, and has practiced doing that."

Thanks for this. Much grief would be avoided if people paid attention to that statement. Alas....like changing a tire, so few are interested. They expect everything to work all the time and don't know what to do when it doesn't.

Think about using copper tubing for the icemaker. We had friends that had a mouse or something eat through the plastic tubing while they were away for a couple of weeks and the small leak reaked havoc on their new kitchen.

Found this thread while searching for drip pans for the D/W. First, I did find one tray that had a fold up front so you could close it up after rolling in the appliance. $70 plus shipping for a 24" unit.

http://www.floodsaver.com/products.html

I've had two leaks on my 2 year old Kenmore (made by Whirlpool). I installed it myself, but the design of the water connection was so poor, it was virtually impossible to get a wrench on it. Now I have virtually every style/type of wrench known to mankind - including line wrenches - and can fix virtually anything, but the only way to tighten the fitting was to use an off-set crowsfoot on a ratchet extension. The designers should be punished....

And I didn't get it tight enough. It developed a slow leak weeks later. The floor is hardwood with a threshold where the vinyl flooring stops. This concealed the leak nicely until the hardwood started cupping.

The second leak was from the dishwasher itself, with water dripping off the diverter motor...or the sump to pump hose...or the pump base itself. Two bloody years! The former contractor grade Hotpoint hasted 25....

I'm looking for a tray with near-vertical sides, as the D/W feet are very close to the the 24" width of the unit and the opening is only 24 3/8" While the FloodSaver at $70 is twice or three times the cost of other supposed 24" models - which are usually only 22" on the bottom - it's the only one with true vertical sides.

Tall-tub dishwashers with less working space beneath ... use a flexible/braided water line and attach it to the dishwasher first, before setting the unit into the cabinetry, so the machine can be leaned over for access to tighten the connection. Feed the line through the cabinetry partition while pushing the unit into position, then connect it to the water supply under the sink.

Used stainless braided hose to a valve/connection under the house, as all the plumbing to the sink was inside the wall. However, there was absolutely no way to put a hydraulic line wrench on the fitting. It was a poor design plan and simple, hence use of a crows foot. But since I have extra hose, I'll pull some up and make the connection when it is partly out from under.

...and speaking of poor designs, why did they place the 'feet' at the outer extremeties? Stability would not have been compromised if each was inward by a half or one inch.... With inset feet, it would be easier to use various drip pans that don't have vertical sides. The more expensive FloodSaver unit is the only one with true vertical sides.

...and with the way dishwashers are made these days, a drip pan is an absolute necessity. The old one lasted 25 years and only needed a $9 fill valve, but the wife wanted a new "stainless" one. Old GE fridge lasted 27...wonder how long the new stainless LG will make it....

Late edit: after the first leak, I bought a set of water alarms off Amazon. 3 for $21 with free shipping. The neat thing is they signal S-O-S in Morse code when they detect any water - even a minute amount.

How will you train your water to stay on the tile?

When I installed new cabinets and a dishwasher in my mother's house I used Hardibacker rather than wooden subfloor and then installed a cheap basket strainer like in a sink and the tail pipe goes into part of the basement that won't be damaged, but I will know if there is a leak before there is damage

Everything eventually fails so being prepared to minimize the damage makes a great deal of sense to me. My mother had high-quality appliances professionally installed and still had to replace her wood floors three times in 10 years. And since the kitchen opened into all the other public areas of the house, all the flooring on the entire first floor with the exception of the tiled bath and the bedrooms had to be replaced. Talk about disruption! You can't even live in the house while it's done. And one of those times required replacement of a floor joist.

FWIW after 13 years of wood floors in our kitchen, we had a small leak from our dishwasher. About 7 boards were affected i.e. warped. However, 3 months later, they have flattened out and no one would ever know they were once warped . The only thing I did was to sprinkle baking soda over the floorboard seams and left it there for about a week to try to absorb the moisture. I'm not sure if it helped but it certainly didn't hurt.

It's been almost two years since my post about the "Fold-n-Slide" FloodSaver pan mentioned above. With a water alarm in the pan, there hasn't been nary a chirp.... (Knock on wood.) Additionally, I installed a drain in the pan which diverts water through the floor to the crawl space in the immediate vicinity of the sump pump. Yeah, the slow, sneaky leak caused the hardwood flooring (c. 1938) under the sheet vinyl floor to cup...but after two summers, everything has leveled out.

Cheers

For readers who encounter a similar problem, I mentioned above that we experienced warping of a few boards after a dishwasher leak. I just noticed that the boards have totally returned to normal - no more cupping/warping! I'm not sure if it was the baking soda or time, but our floors are back to normal.

Might add a follow-up. While the dishwasher hasn't dripped a drop in several years, the tiny 'chirp' of the unit when the battery wore down was the devil to find. I had completely forgotten about it....

I'll mention that all the new DWs I've seen lately now use a hose connection similar to a garden hose, just smaller. With its own rubber gasket, one can put it on by hand. Some units come with the proper elbow (which you put on before putting the unit under the counter), others you need to get one from the box stores when you get the hose (and electrical stuff).

Anecdote: my friend had a flood when she started the machine before going to the grocery store. The drain hose either popped off or ruptured, I forget which. Ruined the parquet floor, subfloor, and ceiling in the garage underneath the kitchen. They ended up replacing all the parquet with tile.

Got rid of the Kenmore (actually, a Whirlpool) mentioned above for a new GE. Amazingly quiet in operation, does a good job, but not too enthused about the design of the top rack. (Longitudinal 'stringers' in the rack makes placement of dishes or small bowls impossible.) The water connection was quick and easy, though I took no chances, wrapping it in stretchable "RescueTape".

Same thing happened to me. Slow leak for over a year (?) from the water line spraying into the back wall. It was ruining my floors and I knew nothing until it was too late. My hardwoods now need to be replaced. It was a whirlpool fridge that lasted 15 years so quality want the issue. If I had just been overthinking I wouldn’t have to replace my wood flooring. Great question and hoping someone will invent a drip tray for refrigerators!

Which line was leaking? The one from the water tap to the refrigerator? That supply line isn't part of the refrigerator.

It was the clear tube that supplies the water to the fridge. Doesn’t really matter, this issue is how to solve undetected leaks from ruining floors. Thankfully I saw the helpful post on the floodsaver fold/flip trays. I think that’s the solution along with a water detector! Txs