House Shut off Valve Problems
By Greg Vanden Berge


Let me just play out a simple scenario to a bathroom remodel wear during demolition, one of the water supply pipes broke and no one knows where or how to shut off the water to the entire house. This has happened more than once from inexperienced homeowners doing their own bathroom remodeling to licensed contractors that should know better.

Two experienced demolition workers are cutting the drywall with a reciprocating saw when all of a sudden they cut through the drywall and into a cold water pipe. Water starts slowly flooding the bathroom floor on the second story of the house. One of the workers runs to get towels and buckets, while the other one is holding his hand over the drywall, where the water is squirting out, with no idea that the water is leaking inside the wall and slowly working its way down towards the first floor ceiling.

By the time the second worker gets the towels and buckets and starts to clean the water up, the first worker realizes that he needs to contact his boss. After a couple of phone calls he finally reaches his boss and explains the situation to him. The boss explains to him, that he needs to locate the house water shutoff valve as soon as possible and to ask the homeowner for its location. The homeowner has no clue and doesn't know what they're talking about but is starting to panic as water is leaking onto the first-floor furniture.

I don't think I need to go into any more detail and you have a pretty good picture what's happening here.

If a water supply line is damaged, you should know where the water supply shutoff valve is located and should have already tested it to make sure it is working properly. If the water supply line to the house is a gate valve or one that requires turning the knob, clockwise until it a shut off, do this and make sure that the water is no longer working inside the house.

I had one of these valves where I turned it on the outside and it wasn't moving the parts on the inside to properly turn the water off to the house. Stuff like this does happen and you need to be prepared, whether you're working on your house yourself or someone else is,

Whenever you buy a home, you should always find out where the water supply shutoff valve is located and verify that it works properly. If there is ever a problem with water in your house, you should know how to take care of the problem.