Every plumber in this city has the same story. They arrive at a house with water coming through the ceiling, and the first several minutes are spent hunting for the shutoff while the damage compounds.
Here is a job that takes ten minutes on a quiet Saturday and pays for itself the one time you need it.
1. The main water shutoff
Where to look. In homes with basements, typically where the supply line enters — often a front or street-facing wall, near the water meter. In homes on a slab, look in a utility closet, the garage, or near the water heater.
Do this now: find it, turn it fully off, then fully on again. Two reasons. You confirm it actually works, and you confirm you can turn it — old gate valves seize, and discovering that during a flood is the worst possible time. If it will not budge or it weeps when you move it, have it replaced. It is a small job.
Also worth knowing: where your outside curb stop is, and that a water meter key is inexpensive and worth owning.
2. The gas shutoff
Where to look. At the meter, outside. The valve is on the pipe running into the meter, and it needs a wrench — a crescent wrench or a dedicated meter key. Keep one nearby, not in a drawer inside a house you may have evacuated.
Turned a quarter turn so it sits crosswise to the pipe means off.
Important: if you shut gas off at the meter, do not turn it back on yourself. Relighting appliances and confirming there is no leak is utility or licensed technician work.
If you ever smell gas: leave first, call from outside, and do not operate light switches or anything else that could spark.
3. The electrical panel
Find it, open it, and label the breakers properly. Most panels are labelled in faded pencil by someone who guessed in 1994.
It takes one evening with a helper: switch one breaker off, walk the house, write down what died. Do it once and it is done forever.
Know where the main disconnect is — the large breaker at the top that kills everything.
While you are there, look for signs that deserve an electrician: scorching, a burnt smell, rust, warm breakers, or a panel brand with a known recall history. If you do not recognise the brand, it is worth looking up.
4. The sewer cleanout
This is the one almost nobody knows. It is a capped pipe — usually four inches, often white or black plastic — either just outside the foundation or in a basement floor or utility area.
When a main line backs up, a plumber needs it, and the difference between "it is right here" and thirty minutes of probing the yard with a shovel is real money on an emergency call.
Find it. If it is buried under mulch or a shrub, mark it. Take a photo with something recognisable in frame.
5. Safe roof and attic access
Not a shutoff, but the same principle. Know how someone gets on your roof — where a ladder can be set safely, and whether the pitch is manageable. Know where the attic hatch is and that it opens.
In a leak, the source is usually in the attic, and getting eyes on it quickly determines how much gets wrecked.
Write it down
Photograph all five. Put the photos in a shared album, or write the locations on a card and put it inside a kitchen cabinet door — somewhere anyone in the house can find it, including a house-sitter or a family member who does not live there.
The person who needs this information is frequently not the person reading this article. It might be your spouse at 2am, or a neighbour with a key while you are away.
And keep the numbers somewhere visible
The reason a magnet or a card on the fridge still works, in an era where everyone has a phone, is that in an actual emergency nobody wants to research a plumber. They want a name they already recognise.
That is the entire idea behind the card we mail — the list you grab when something breaks, sitting where you will actually see it.
Want this audience on your side?
Colorado Springs Home Pros puts one business per trade on 2,500 local fridges every month, with a 4-mailing minimum.