Detect-A-Leak
Important Information
Do You Know Where your house Water Shut off Valve is located?
This is extremely important. If a pipe that suddenly breaks anywhere on your property, especially inside your house can cause extensive damage in a very short time.
For example:
Damage to your flooring, especially if its wood could be very expensive.
If the leak occurs upstairs it may damage the drywall ceiling below and potentially the floor.
The water could dampen the drywall in your home.
All the above have the potential to start growing mildew and mold that you may not be able to detect.
Other important places to look for leaks are inside your bathroom and kitchen cabinets to see if the shut off valves or supply tubes are dripping. In addition, check around your water heater, wash machine and laundry basin to name a few other places.
A culprit mentioned above that we often overlook is the constant little drip from a hose bib that we can’t stop no matter how hard we try. Often we can put a pan under the leak.
If there is a leak in a pipe or fitting that is occurring before the shut off valve that controls the fixture or possibly even the valve itself is leaking, time can become a critical factor. What are you going to do?
At this point that it is very important that you and the rest of your family know where the shut off valve that controls the water going into your house is located. Does everyone know how to turn it off and on?
Because we all don’t have to use this valve very often we may not remember where it is. Frequently it gets grown over with vegetation so we can’t see it or even access it. When you do locate it, test to make sure it works. Further, it is not uncommon for an old valve to leak and it may have been doing so for years.