Water Damage Team Blog

Take a Walk
Walk around your home, does the grass around your home have puddles or large wet spots?

Follow the Money
Compare your water utilities bill with past bills to see if it is larger than usual.

Locate your Water Meter
Once you’ve located your meter, check the red flow indicator to see if it’s moving a lot. If it is, you may have a leak.

Do a Leak Check
Check the water meter before you leave the house, when no one else is going to be home for a while using water. After an hour or two, check the meter again. If it’s gone down, you have a leak.
Check the Loo

Now that you’ve located your meter, you can check for leaks within the home. 90 percent of water in the home flows through toilets. Turn off each toilet in the house one by one, checking the meter each time. If the red flow indicator is moving, it is not that toilet.

Turn off Sprinklers
If the problem is not one of your toilets, try the same thing with your sprinklers.

Last Resort
If you still haven’t found the leak, shut of the main water supply to your home and check the meter. Turn on a faucet to make sure there is no water flowing inside the home, then check the meter. If it’s still moving, the leak is most likely between the shutoff valve and the water meter.

Don’t make it Worse
Many leaks in the home are easy to fix yourself. Don’t get in over your head though, if you find a leak you’re not sure how to repair, call a professional.

If you are unprepared for a flood then it can cost you thousands of dollars in unnecessary damage repair bills. By following these 18 simple tips you can get and stay prepared for future floods.

1. Install weather stripping to all doors and windows.

2. Fasten exterior items securely to your home to prevent them from becoming flying debris. Move loose items indoors.

3. Make sure the electric panel/fuse box is elevated above previous flood levels.

4. Make sure the furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and other items in the basement are located off the floor and elevated above previous flood levels.

5. Develop a family evacuation plan and practice it once a year.

6. Keep some cash and a copy of important papers, such as identification, wills, insurance policies and financial records, in a portable waterproof and fireproof container.

7. Inspect your roof for damaged shingles or flashing and remove debris.

8. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends you take pictures of valuable possessions and store important documents where they can’t be damaged.

9. Know how and when to shut off utilities: Electricity, gas, and water.

10. Find out how to get local warning information, such as outdoor warning sirens or cable TV override systems.

11. Put plugs into sinks and weigh them down with something heavy.

12. Install head and foot bolts on the inactive door of double-entry doors.

13. Check with your local building supplier or garage door retailer to see if a retrofit kit is available for your garage door.

14. Plug basement floor drains with removable grids.

15. Unbolt toilets from the floor and plug the outlet pipe using the same procedure as for floor drains. Shower drains can be plugged this way too.

16. Shut off appliances at the fuse box or breaker panel. Put freezers, washer, dryers and other appliances up on wood or cement blocks to keep the motors above the water level.

17. Move hazardous materials to higher locations. This includes paint, oil, cleaning supplies and other dangerous materials.

18. Discuss safe emergency procedures. Teach adults and older children where electric fuses are.

“Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow.”
-Arthur Stringer

“Don’t you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it’s in the sea, and it’s homesick, and bound to make its way home someday”
-Zora Neale Hurston

“In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference”
-Rachel Carson

“Water which is too pure has no fish”
-Anonymous

“A little water is a sea to an ant”
-Afghan Proverb

“Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet”
- African Proverb

“Water is the only drink for a wise man.”
-Henry David Thoreau

“The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.”
-Pamela Hansford Johnson

“It is wise to bring some water, when one goes out to look for water”
-Arab Proverb

“The miller sees not all the water that goes by his mill”
- Robert Burton

“Water is the mother of the vine, The nurse and fountain of fecundity, The adorner and refresher of the world”
-Charles Mackay

“If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water”
-Bulgarian Proverb

“With true friends . . . even water drunk together is sweet enough”
-Chinese Proverb

“Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed”
-Buddha

“The formula for water is H2O. Is the formula for an ice cube H2O squared?”
-Lily Tomlin

“The good rain, like the bad preacher, does not know when to leave off”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To a gardener there is nothing more exasperating than a hose that just isn’t long enough”
-Cecil Roberts

“If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in the water”
-Loren Eisley

“Water is the driver of Nature”
-Leonardo da Vinci

“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water”
-Benjamin Franklin

“Water is a good servant, but it is a cruel master”
-John Bullein