Water everywhere, right now
Water running right now? Close the main shutoff if you can reach it without touching anything electrical or stepping into standing water, then come back to these decisions. Smell gas? Leave first and read the gas decision from outside.
Updated .
These eight decisions come up in the first hour. Each page puts the choice first and the reasons after.
- Call a plumber tonight or wait till morning?
- Get out first: gas smell, or water reaching anything electrical
- Call tonight: water you cannot stop, or sewage inside the house
- Wait till morning: water stopped, nothing spreading, a night without water is manageable
- Pay the emergency rate or book next day?
- Pay the emergency rate: water still running, or sewage in the house
- Book next day: main off, leak stopped, household can manage overnight
- Shut the water off or wait for the plumber?
- Shut it off now: valve found, reachable on dry ground, turns by hand
- Call the water utility: valve missing, stuck, or only at the street or meter
- Plumber first or water cleanup company first?
- Plumber first: source still unknown or water returns when the main reopens
- Cleanup company first: source fixed or stopped, materials still wet
- Sewage coming up: plumber or the city first?
- Plumber first: one house affected, or a septic system
- City first: neighbors affected too, or sewage coming from the street
- Call your insurer or the plumber first?
- Plumber first: water still running, or the source not yet found
- Insurer first: water stopped, damage visible, repair can wait a few hours
- Gas smell: plumber or gas company?
- Gas company and 911: any gas or rotten-egg smell, even faint
- Plumber: only after responders clear the house and name a repair
- Take the first plumber who answers or keep calling?
- Take the first who answers: water still running, and they pass basic checks
- Keep calling: main is off, or the first answer raises warning signs
