The annual water check: fifteen minutes, once a year

Start at the main

Find it, and confirm it turns. Open a tap, close the main fully, check the tap stops, then reopen slowly and look for weeping around the stem.

If it will not turn, do not force it — a snapped stem on an old gate valve turns a stiff valve into an open one you cannot close. Have it replaced with a ball valve.

Then take a photograph of it and show everyone in the household where it is. The person who finds a leak is frequently not the person who knows the house.

The water heater

• Check the age from the serial number — past ten years, start planning
• Look for moisture, staining or mineral crusting at the base
• Look for rust on the shell and around fittings
• Confirm the cold inlet valve turns
• Listen for rumbling, which indicates sediment
• Confirm the drip pan, if fitted, drains somewhere

The washing machine

• Check hose age — replace rubber every three to five years, braided every five
• Look for bulging, cracking or crusting at the connections
• Confirm both supply valves turn
• Check the drain hose is secured and cannot jump out of the standpipe
• Look behind the machine for staining on the floor or wall base

Under every sink

Open the cupboards and actually look, with a torch. Supply connections, the trap, the base of the cabinet.

Staining, swelling, a musty smell or soft particleboard means a slow leak has been running — and slow leaks under sinks are among the most common sources of the gradual damage that insurance will not cover.

The sump, if you have one

• Pour a bucket of water into the pit and watch the full cycle — it should start, clear, and stop cleanly
• Clear debris and silt from the pit
• Check the float moves freely and is not fouling the wall or pipe
• Walk the discharge line to the outlet and confirm it is clear
• Confirm the backup pump or battery works, and check the battery age

Outside

• Gutters clear, and downspout outlets clear
• Downspouts discharging several feet clear of the foundation
• Ground falling away from the house for the first several feet
• Outdoor taps not dripping, and shut off and drained before winter
• Irrigation system blown out in autumn
• Window wells clear and draining

The basement or crawl space

Look at the floor-wall joint for staining or efflorescence, which shows where water has entered before. Look at the underside of the floor above for stains. Smell for musty odour. In a crawl space, check whether the vapour barrier is intact and whether insulation is sagging — both indicate a long-standing moisture problem.

The meter test

The one objective check available to you. Turn off every tap and water-using appliance, read the meter, wait an hour using nothing, and read again.

Movement means water is leaving the system somewhere — possibly under a slab, inside a wall, in an irrigation line or in the underground service pipe. It takes an hour of doing nothing and it finds leaks nothing else will.

When to do it

Autumn is the best single time on Long Island — ahead of nor'easter season and before freezing weather, so anything found can be fixed while it is still easy.

Spring is a reasonable second, catching what winter did.

If you need help now

Serving Nassau and Suffolk

Dispatching from 30 Lynch St in Huntington Station. Response times are honest by zone — 45 to 60 minutes across the core townships, longer as you head east.

• Huntington
• Smithtown
• Islip
• Babylon
• Brookhaven
• Hempstead
• North Hempstead
• Oyster Bay
• Riverhead
• Southampton
• East Hampton
• Southold

See every community we cover →