Emergency Water Shutoff

If you need to turn off the water for an emergency or even for a routine repair, this is what you need to know


Single-family residences (detached homes and most town homes and condominiums) almost always have two places to shut off all the water entering the home. One is at the water meter, and the other is a valve handle close to an exterior wall outside, in the basement, or near the water heater.
To save money in construction, apartments (especially older apartments) don't always have shutoff valves for each individual dwelling unit. The latest building codes in most areas now require individual shutoff valves to each unit to prevent the obvious disasters, but it wasn't always so.
If you pay your own individual water bill, then your unit probably has its own water meter (unless your apartment building prorates the overall water charges). If you have your own water meter, then you should be able to shut off the water at your meter, and you very likely also have a separate shutoff valve outside the apartment, in the basement, or inside the unit, just like a single-family home.
Of course, even if your entire apartment building has only one meter, you could also shut off water to the entire building in an emergency if you know where the meter is.

How to Shutoff a Water Supply-Shutoff at the Water Main


When you need to shut the water supply off to the entire house or when a local plumbing fixture has no local shutoff valve, the place to go is your home's water meter.
  • At the water meter you'll find a water supply line coming into the house from the outside.
  • Between it and the water meter is a shutoff valve. On the other side of the water meter is another shutoff valve.
  • To shut off the water to the house, turn off the valve located BEFORE the water meter, on the supply side.


Toilet shutoff valve




Sink shutoff valves


Many plumbing fixtures have a local shutoff for the cold and if required, the hot water line.
  • To turn off the water supply to a plumbing fixture, locate its shutoff valve.
  • The valve(s) is usually located directly under the fixture as in the case of a sink or a toilet.
  • Once located, turn off the appropriate valve.


Tub or shower shutoff valves


Locating water shutoff valves for tubs and showers are not as easy as sinks or toilets and are usually concealed.

  • Look around the tub or shower for an access panel. It may be on the other side of the wall as the tub or shower.
  • If it is not found in an access panel, then it is located under the floor in the basement or in a ceiling access panel in the floor below.
  • Once located, turn off the appropriate valve.
The first rule is to stop the flow before it can do serious damage to your home and belongings. Once it's stopped give us a call.