Staying Calm During Household Water Emergencies

The water heater explodes and floods your kitchen. A washing machine pipe bursts, making a mess of your garage. Or your five-year-old gets angry with his Spiderman action figure and decides the best thing to do is flush it down the toilet.

One or all of those scenarios probably got your blood pumping and your heart racing. The idea of a flooded house is a personal nightmare for a lot of people, so much that most of us don’t even want to entertain the possibilities. But unfortunately, not talking about it doesn’t make it less likely to happen. Such events definitely aren’t things you should expect to happen daily, but it makes sense to be prepared and think about what you would do in case of a plumbing emergency in your house.

First of all, you need to make sure that the water levels aren’t still increasing. That means knowing the location of your water shut-off valves is essential. Whether you rent or own your home, you should know exactly where to find the valves. In some cases, city water employees may be the only ones with access. If so, you should keep the city water number posted on the fridge or in another easily accessible place. It’s critical to turn off the water as soon as possible to mitigate any water damage that might occur.

Next up, make sure everyone in the house is in a safe, secure place. This includes children and pets. Your cat or dog probably didn’t plan on going for a swim today; they may very well be hiding somewhere and waiting for the flooding to stop.

Once the water is off and you know your family is OK, take a deep breath and allow your heart rate to return to normal. Then, it’s time to call the plumber. If you’re lucky, you’ve already done some research and know of a local and reliable plumbing service. If not, text or call a friend you trust and ask for a recommendation. A good plumber can identify and fix whatever’s gone wrong with the pipes or fittings, as well as assist with any flood restoration services you may need. This isn’t the time to try to wing it; it’s better to pay for a professional now rather than risk making the problem worse. If that happens, it just means you’ll have to spend more money to repair it eventually.

While you wait for the plumber to arrive, it’s not a bad to look around the house and check for anything else that might be damaged. Depending on how high the water got, you could be looking at damaged appliances, including laptops and computers. Liquid damage isn’t ideal, but it doesn’t mean all is lost. You should make absolutely sure the power to your computer is turned off first. Property damage is one thing, but hurting yourself would be even worse. If a battery is removable, then remove it. Then call computer data recovery specialists

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and let them give your hard drive a look. They’ll be able to tell you what, if anything, can be recovered.

Some water emergencies are easy to recover from than others, but panicking never helps. It may feel right at the time, but it won’t do any good in the long run. Remember that you don’t have to do everything on your own. You aren’t a superhero (that may be an especially comforting thought if your son just flushed Spiderman down the toilet).

Be kind to yourself. With the right help and some time, your house will be back to normal, and you may even have a funny story to share the next time you host a dinner party.

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