Find your shut-off before you need it
Four places it hides in a Saint Paul house, and what to do if it will not turn.
Every house has one valve that turns off all the water. Most people meet theirs for the first time while standing in an inch of it.
Four places it hides
In the basement, on the wall facing the street, within a few feet of where the pipe comes through
Behind the water heater, when a later owner boxed the meter in
Under the stairs, in a house without a basement
In a utility closet on the ground floor of a newer build
If it will not turn
Do not force a round-handled gate valve. They shear. Call us and we will fit a quarter-turn ball valve, which takes about an hour and costs less than one ruined ceiling.
Tag it
Tie a label to it. The person who needs it at two in the morning may not be you.
Why the towel rail is cold at the top
