Best Way to Check and Maintain Your Home Properly

When taking possession of a property, either by purchasing or renting it, make sure that you locate and inspect all of the main services in case of emergencies. It’s a bit like taking a first aid course for people. In fact, that’s quite a good analogy, because you will be carrying out first aid on your property and to do that successfully, you need to know where and how the vital organs work.

So, get your torch and ladder out, pick up your trusty pad of paper and pen and start jotting down exactly where all your meters, stopcocks, fuseboards and boiler controls are to be found. This might seem like a drag – and it’s probably the last thing you will want to do having just moved in – but believe me, you won’t regret it when you have your first blown fuse, burst pipe or exploding boiler!

One of the most potentially damaging disasters that can occur in a property is a burst or damaged water pipe. Unnoticed, it can cause a huge amount of damage and inconvenience, particularly in the winter, when the pipes are subjected to the extremes of the cold weather. The problems will often occur when the occupants are away on holiday, even for a couple of days, and prevention rather than cure is the obvious answer. So turn off the water supply when you go away! This means that you must locate the water supply stopcock.

For a house, there is normally a stopcock in the front garden near the boundary or outside the property boundary in the street. This stopcock is the property of the water authority and any leaks occurring on the property side of the stopcock are your responsibility. The stopcock can usually be accessed by a turnkey, which can be acquired from a plumber’s or builder’s merchant. Turning off from here will automatically cut the supply to your house.

Houses and flats normally have a stopcock inside the building close to the first call on the supply. This will typically be the kitchen sink for the fresh drinking water and the stop­cock is commonly positioned under the sink or nearby. Turning off this stopcock will isolate the incoming supply. A water supply normally diverts after the kitchen sink and feeds a storage tank in the loft or cupboard, which in turn supplies the bath, WC and hand basin with the coldwater supply. This water is not for drinking.

The supply feed pipe to the tank also has a stopcock to enable you to isolate the supply to the bathroom area without stopping the freshwater supply to your kitchen sink.

In an emergency, shut off all stopcocks and empty the water storage tank by turning on the bath and hand basin cold taps and repeatedly flushing the toilet. This will empty the system down the drains as opposed to all over your house!

While we’re on the subject, check whether your water pipes and storage tank are lagged. It’s a small investment and could save you a small fortune and a lot of heartache.

The second power source you need to locate is the mains gas shut off valve. The valve is normally located on the incoming supply just before the meter as a rule. It has just a quarter turn off and on. Again, the valve is normally located in a cupboard under the stairs or in a high position on a common area such as a landing. In recent years the gas supply companies have been fitting the supply meters and valves to an outside box. This is often the case in properties that have been split into flats.

Next on the list is finding out what type of boiler system you have. A family house or larger would normally have a conventional system, which incorporates a gas boiler and copper cylinder. In a smaller property, a gas combination boiler system is commonly used, which will only heat the water as you require it without a cylinder storage system. Read the instructions on how to start the boiler and how to operate the timer switches.

You should have a written record next to the boiler indicating when the previous services were made and when future services are required. Servicing of the appliance is very important to ensure that the boiler is running correctly and that no toxic emissions are returning into the property. Make sure that ANY gas work undertaken in your property, is carried out by a CORGI-registered contractor – and check his credentials.

Another vital organ to locate is the electricity supply fuse board, called a consumer unit. The consumer unit can be positioned in a cupboard, possibly under the stairs, or high up by the front door, and controls the electrical supply to your home. Inspect the unit and check what type of fuses it contains to see whether they are fuse wire or cartridges, and make sure you have some spares close at hand. I always keep a torch, electrical screwdriver and a pack of assorted fuse wire next to the consumer unit, as well as candles and matches as back up in case I’ve forgotten to change the batteries in the torch!

Keep a list of important emergency numbers to hand of various tradesmen. If possible, have the contact details of at least two of each – your careful organisation and planning could fall apart if the plumber you’ve got noted down decides to go off on holiday to the Tropics in the week you get a leak. And above all, make sure your systems are serviced regularly – prevention is always better (not to say cheaper and much less stressful) than cure!