FindLocal-Plumber

Plumbing emergencies happen at all hours of the day or night.  Fortunately, most reputable plumbers offer 24 hour emergency plumbing services seven days a week to handle any plumbing emergency.  For many plumbing problems, just calling the plumber is all you need to do.  The plumber will be on the way and have the problem fixed in a few hours.

However, if the problem involves a water line leak, a burst pipe, an overflowing toilet that keep running, or some other emergency that involves water leaking into your home, you should try to stop the flow of water while waiting for the plumber to arrive.  All that water can cause serious damage to your walls, floors, ceilings, cabinets and other fixtures.

For most sinks or toilets, look for a silver water shutoff valve in the cabinet under the sink or behind the toilet.  Turn the handle clockwise until it stops to shut off the water.  For other leaks, look for a water shutoff valve that turns off the water to the whole house.

This valve is usually located inside your home near where the water supply line enters your home.  The valve might be a gate valve that usually has a round red handle or a ball valve that has yellow rectangular handle. If you have a gate valve, turn it clockwise until it stops.  This could be several turns.  A ball valve only turns a quarter turn, usually clockwise, until the handle is perpendicular to the pipe.

You may also have a ball valve or gate valve near the water meter at the street.  If you have one of these it will probably be in a small box.  If you cannot find any of these water valves, have the water turned off at the meter.  This requires a special tool so you will need to call the water company and have them take care of it.