How To Find The Water Shut-Off Valve For A House

There is no standard location for water shut-off valves within homes, but depending on how your home is built, there are a few simple ways to find it.

Check the Basement

If your home has a basement, check there first. The valve is likely to be in the same area as the outdoor hose connection or water spigot, but on the corresponding interior side of the wall.

Check the Crawl Space

For homes with a crawl space, your main water shut-off valve may be under it. For homes with a basement, the shut-off valve is likely wherever water enters the basement. For homes without a basement, the shut-off valve is likely close to the water heater or under the kitchen sink.

Check Your Water Heater Tank

For homes built on a slab, your water main shut-off valve is likely close to your water heater tank —check underneath it or at the top.

Your house water valve should also be documented on your property inspection report. Review the plumbing section of the report, which should both locate the shut-off valve and have a photo of the valve so you can identify what you’re looking for.

Each type of water valve turns on and off differently.

1. Ball Valve

A ball valve contains a ball with a hole through the middle and a straight handle that runs parallel to the pipe when open. That handle will move from its parallel position to a perpendicular position to turn off a ball valve. The valve will stop when the handle is fully perpendicular to the pipe.

2. Gate Valve

This type of valve is similar to the one you may find on your garden hose. Gate valves have round handles that control a gate, which moves up and down, allowing or blocking water movement. Turning the handle counterclockwise as far as it allows will open the valve, and turning it the opposite direction as far as it will go, clockwise, will completely close the valve.

You can also allow and adjust partial water flow by turning this valve some, but not all, of the way open or closed.

3. Curb Valve

If you aren’t able to locate your water shut-off valve, you may be able to find the valve at the beginning of your water main in your streetside ground-level utility box. This is also known as a curb valve. You should see a plastic or metal door at the top of the box, which should contain a 24-hour phone number for your water company’s emergency services.

If you are unable to close the valve yourself, you can call and ask the company how to DIY or for them to send an emergency team to help you.

Note: It is illegal to shut off the water to your property via the city shut-off valve without calling the emergency service line. However, when you do need to make that phone call, the company will either direct you to shut off the water with this valve or send an emergency team to do so.

Instead of turning off all the water to your home, you could shut off water to specific household appliances to turn off water access to individual plumbing fixtures. This includes the toilet, bathtub or shower, sink, washing machine and more.

Here’s how to find these isolation valves:

• Toilets: check for a valve on the wall or floor adjacent to the toilet
• Bathtub: get to the plumbing access panel
• Sink: look underneath for shut-off valves for hot and cold water
• Washing machine: valves should be behind or above the appliance

If you can’t find your water shut-off valve in an emergency, you’ll need to call a nearby professional plumber. And even if you’ve shut off your house water main, you’ll want to make sure all plumbing damages, urgent leaks and burst water pipes are patched before you turn it on again.