There’s nothing quite like waking up in the middle of the night only to find a floor covered with water. Nothing feels quite like an emergency to a homeowner like water spraying in all directions and the homeowner not having a clue on how to shut the water off. Unfortunately most homeowners also don’t realize that calling a plumber in the middle of the night to take care of your plumbing emergency is probably going to be pretty expensive. Same goes for most weekends and holidays. So what’s a homeowner to do in a plumbing emergency?
Hiring plumbing contractors during a plumbing emergency is a little different than hiring a plumber during normal working hours. For one thing, as I mentioned above, if you’re having a plumbing emergency during a holiday or in the middle of the night and you contract a plumber you will most likely be billed at a much higher rate. Of course it only makes sense because the plumbing contractor is being pulled away from his family or friends in the middle of the night or on a holiday. So if you’re a homeowner and you’re facing a plumbing emergency the first thing you want to do is shut off the main water supply.
Shut Off the Water Supply
Before you can shut off the water supply to the leak you’ll have to determine what or where the water supply is. If the leak is coming from a toilet or a water heater you can just shut off the water to that individual unit. Both your toilet(s) and water heater should have a shut-off valve located on the floor and behind the unit itself. Below is an image of a toilet shut off valve to give you an idea of what one looks like.
The shut off valve on your water heater may or may not look similar to the toilet shut off valve above. The shut-off valve on my water heater actually has a lever. Nonetheless what you’re looking for is a line coming out of your wall and going into your water heater and a valve that will allow you to shut off the water supply. Make sure you’re shutting off the water supply and not messing with the gas line!
If it’s a much bigger leak and you can’t tell where it’s coming out of you’re probably going to have to shut off the water supply to your house. Luckily most homes have a shut off valve that makes this a fairly easy process. For most homes the shut off valve is located by the water meter to your home. Most homes in my area have the water meter located in the front yard by the curb like the picture below:
Once you locate the water meter, all you have to do is pry off the lid and turn the lever to shut off the water going to your house. After you shut off the water you still want to confirm that your leak has indeed stopped. Once you have the leak stopped you can now move onto looking for a good plumber to actually fix the leak so you can have running water again. Below are some tips we recommend for finding a good plumbing contractor:
Get several bids – the more bids you get from different plumbers the more bids you’ll have to compare and contrast and should lead to a better plumber. For best results make sure to screen and qualify the plumbing contractors prior to having them bid. You can look for feedback, complaints and reviews from past customers by doing a search online. You can also check for complaints with the Better Business Bureau and your local state licensing board.
Ask for references – A good plumber should have plenty of references for you to look at and possibly contact. If you want to get the most out of references you actually have to contact them and ask questions about the plumber and his quality of work. If possible ask the plumber if he can assist you in getting in touch with some of his past customers.
Verify the plumbers license – Checking to make sure the plumber has a valid license from the state is a good idea as the state will put plumbers through a background check, the state will fingerprint the plumbers and also administer a general competency examination to ensure the plumbers are familiar with standard plumbing practices.
Check for insurance – It’s imperative that the plumber you hire have some form of general liability insurance in the event that something goes wrong. General liability insurance will protect your home and should cover any expenses to bring things back to normal. If the plumber you hire plans on using any employees you should require that he have valid worker’s compensation insurance.
Plumbing emergencies can be pretty frustrating and unfortunately finding and hiring a good plumber is no walk in the park either. Make sure to follow our tips and advice above and you’re sure to experience much less stress and frustration the next time you have to deal with a plumbing emergency.
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