Basement Flood on Mother's day - Why it ended up not being a huge deal.

[Michael K Gallagher]

Yesterday was a reminder that the basics and fundamentals put in place early continue to pay dividends in the long run.

The water meter and shut off valve to the main service to out duplex "popped off" the main service line so I had a building with no water, and a main water line running unimpeded into the basement.

Turns out the hardest task of the day in repairing this was the fire department finding the shut off at the street.  The city was little to no help.

Things That I Did Well - reacted quickly, confirmed the city didn't have any issues in the area, and determined it was isolated to the building.

- Called not only the city but the local fire station to get two solutions going for the street shut off.

- Had a clear and working floor drain in the property - really never had more than a stream of water because of this. no standing water at all.

- Had an electronic deadbolt on the unit to get access when the tenant was not there, and to give anyone access that had needed it to repair.

Things I will be putting in place after this - 

- Having a go to plumber with emergency capabilities.  I have relationships with plumbers but no one working mother's day.  while small local relationships are great, I also need a larger "emergency" company in my pocket also. 

-  will be seeing if there is some kind of "alarm" or "alert" to not rely on tenants to determine if there's an issue.  Either high flow or no flow are both issues it appears.

[Marc Winter]

There are water leak detection alarms you can install in the basement--probably some that will alert on your phone.  I also like installing one next to the water heater--when those heaters pop, it can be messy.