If not, please learn! I never realized I would need to know how to turn off the water in my house, but had a horrible incident last week that made me realize that you need to know these things! The water line on my toilet exploded (from wear and tear, I guess - it was all made of cheap plastic), and I did not know how to shut the water off. I had quite a flood which resulted in a lot of damage before I was able to get someone to help me do what should have been a quick and simple task. Next time (which will hopefully never occur) I will know, but I just wanted to give everyone else a heads up that this should be one of many basic things a homeowner should know. I've owned a home for over 10 years and was oblivious.
Sometimes it's the simple things that get overlooked, until there's an emergency, and then you wonder why you never took the time to find out. I know where to turn off the water in my home, but that's only because we bought it new, and the estate agent went through all those things with us on the inspection tour. Otherwise, I would have been in a state of blissful ignorance like you!
I bet there are a lot of things like this. We don't know how to do this or that untill we REALLY have to do this. It's normal. We don't pay much attention to thing that work properly. I hope, kinser, the damage wasn't that bad and you coped with it quite easily.
That's a great tip, but I hate that you had to learn it that way. I bet you were mad you had to clean that up. It's good to know that you or anyone else weren't hurt. I agree, that everyone should know how to turn of the water, circuit breaker, and the gas line. In an emergency it can be a matter of life and death.
Exactly, Sandra! It is the simplest thing to do, yet just not being aware caused a major headache. It's great that your estate agent explained it to you - I wish someone would have done that for me.
This is good advice. I only know how to turn mine off because of a similar experience. I had a broken pipe and had no idea what to do. The water was pouring down into the basement and I panicked. I had to call my husband home from work, luckily he was at the office and pretty close to the house. It was something that I never thought of up until that day. We have since moved into a new house and I made sure to locate the shut off.
