That’s weird about the shut offs not controlling the entire house. I just picked up a house and there is NO SHUT OFF !! The shut off and the meter are in the ground at the street !!! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve hunted everywhere. Then the next door neighbor confirmed it. The only shut off for these two homes is under the grass at the street, with my water meter !!! NEVER HEARD OF THAT ONE ! We are adding a new shut off at the house, and asking water company to move the meter.
Wanted to share something with you (that I wasn?t aware of) but learned the hard way.
Was told (by our plumber the other night) that some of the older homes were built using concrete butted up against the pipes. He said that the lime in the cement eats through the pipes! And SURE enuf?
We heard ?hissing? the other day coming from the common wall between our hall bathroom and kitchen. Husband sledgehammered the wall behind our frig. Pipes were bone dry. Next he tore up most of the vanity in the bathroom trying to expose the pipes looking for the leak. Discovered the leak close to the floor. By then our entire hallway wall-to-wall and the bathroom were flooded! Had to scout out an ?emergency? plumber at 10 p.m. at $90.00 (!!!) an hour.
At 10:50 he found two MORE leaks. Said we can expect more (pipe) trouble ?down tha road?. oi vei is all I could think to say?
The place looked like a war zone!! No kidding.
(And all that happening after my refrig. quit the week BEFORE on a Saturday night.) One thing after another?but life goes on!!
The upside to the story is: yesterday the insurance adjustor said that we are getting ALL next kitchen cabinets (wow!!), the bathroom fixed, the rug cleaned, and my corner (built-in) china cabinet replaced. Martha Stewart, HERE I COME!!!
In retrospect, the first thing you should have done when you noticed the leak was shut off the main water supply to the house. I know it doesn’t help you now, but it might help someone else who reads this. Every homeowner should always know where the main shutoffs are for water, electric, and gas coming into the house.
First I shut off the four values in the bathroom (under the sink and toilet) then I ran outside and shut off the main value for the house.
I found out from the plumber that the outside value shuts off 99% of the water supply but the OTHER ‘main’ value (on the street side with the water meter) shuts off the water 100%.
Something else I found out, that value on the street side requires some heavy-duty tools to shut it off! Like a pipe wrench perhaps?
At least I’m prepared for the NEXT time!
Also! It might pay for a person to give the handle a squirt of oil every once in awhile so that it’ll turn easily when when you NEED to shut it off fast!
The one closest to my house was recessed about a foot into the ground INSIDE a cinder block. Thank God the handle turned!!
That WAS a good idea of yours to alert the others. Thanx.
