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Know where your main water shutoff is located from the moment you move into your house. Find it during the final walkthrough before closing if you can. It might save you a lot of frustration, time, and money.
Background
When my family first moved into our home, I knew very early on where the water shutoff valve was located. This is largely due to the fact my home has the unique quirk of having fire suppression sprinklers, something that is very uncommon in residential properties. The previous owners were people we knew. My wife and I had grown up with their children in the same schools. They attended the same church as me for years. Because of this familiarity, the previous owner graciously came over to show me where things were. He had run a fire suppression sprinkler business for a long time and when he built this house, had a system installed. He wanted me to know where things were and to have a basic understanding of how they worked. I’m still appreciative of his time to this day. It’s a personal touch that many home buyers don’t get. Anyway, I knew where the water shutoff valve was located. Very easy to get to. In the basement against the southern exterior wall.
The basement of our home is finished, including a third full bathroom. At the time, our kids were still pretty little and the tub in this bathroom was the easiest place to give them a bath, so we used it very regularly. The other tub/shower upstairs had a sliding door on it that complicated matters when dealing with a small child.
The Deluge
It was just after dinner time. I was doing dishes while my wife gave our youngest a bath. I had water running in the sink and water was running to fill the tub downstairs. My wife shut off the water when the tub was full. From upstairs I suddenly heard what sounded like a waterfall from beneath the kitchen floor. I heard her yell up to me, “BRANDON!” I quickly ran downstairs. Water was pouring through the drop ceiling onto the floor. Fast and furious. The stuff of a home owner’s nightmares. I ran directly to the water shutoff and turned it off. The flow stopped within a few seconds. The water hadn’t been leaking for more than maybe 30 seconds total.
I’d like to stop here and note that my shutoff valve is a quarter turn. If yours is something older like the type you have to keep screwing to the right until the water is shut off, similar to an outdoor spigot, you might want to look into getting a professional plumber to change that out for you for situations such as this.
The Aftermath
The damage was relatively minimal. A number of drop ceiling tiles were soaked and ruined. The carpet was soaked in the area of the leak. A few household items had to be dried out. I immediately called a plumber and they had me look at the area the water was coming from while I still had them on the phone. It turns out that as part of a remodeling project, an old water line had been capped with something called a “Shark bite.” I found it on the ground near the site of the leak.
Normally, these products are just fine, but the one I found had a pretty clear flaw that explained how it lost its hold. The best I can guess is that something about the change in water pressure from shutting off the tub faucet contributed to its failure. That night I ran over to Lowe’s and bought a high powered fan to dry the carpet out. Fortunately, it was half off the original price. I should’ve bought two of them, but I digress. I also purchased a new “shark bite” and re-capped the water line. It has worked fine ever since. We also had a few extra drop ceiling tiles. If you ever put in a drop ceiling, have some extra left over.
Imagine how bad this could’ve been had I not known where and how to shut off the water! Ruined carpet. Mold. Ruined personal property. Heavy expense at remediation and repair. Lost time utilizing a portion of our home. Scheduling all the repairs. Making sure someone is here while the repairs are happening. It turns into a mess pretty quickly.
Know where your water shutoff valve is located and how to use it.
Brandon Buck
812-449-7539
