Members call their Home Manager, who knows the shut-offs and sends a licensed plumber, then brings in restoration if water has spread.
When a pipe bursts, a water heater fails or a line freezes and splits, the hardest part is often not knowing where to start. Which valve is the main? Which plumber can work in this house? Who handles the drywall afterward?
Members call their Home Manager. Your Home Manager already knows where the shut-offs are, how the plumbing is laid out and which licensed plumber to send, and stays on the job until it is resolved.
A repaired pipe is only the first step. Wet plaster, floors and millwork need to be dried and restored quickly, and your insurer will want a record. We hand the job to the restoration crews and documentation in our water damage and flooding service, with the same Home Manager coordinating.
Most burst pipes have a cause that can be found: an exposed pipe in an outside wall, a heat loss in an unused room, an aging water heater or a supply line that was never replaced. After the emergency, your Home Manager looks for the cause and adds it to your Annual Home Care Plan, with checks before the deep freeze each winter.
Leak sensors, automatic water shut-offs and modern supply lines make a burst far less costly, and your Home Manager plans them into the Five-Year Capital Plan wherever older plumbing falls short.
Members buy a minimum of 60 hours of Home Manager time at $121 an hour, with no monthly fees, and unused hours never expire. Plumbing and restoration work is billed through Zebrano as it is done. Membership is how we know your house before something goes wrong; you can read more about it on our membership page.
In most Toronto houses it is in the basement, on the wall where the water line comes in from the street, usually at the front of the house near the water meter. Find it before you need it and make sure it turns. Your Home Manager records the main shut-off and the fixture shut-offs in your Home Manual.
Shut off the main water valve, then turn off power to any wet area if you can do it safely. Open the taps to drain the lines, move valuables out of the way, and photograph the damage before anything is moved. Then call a plumber and your insurer. Members call their Home Manager.
Keep the heat steady, even when you are away. Shut off and drain exterior taps and irrigation lines in the fall. Insulate pipes along exterior walls and in unheated spaces, and open cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls during cold snaps. Leak sensors with an automatic shut-off add protection.
For most larger homes, yes. Sensors near the water heater, washer, sinks and sump alert you to a leak, and an automatic shut-off valve on the main line can close the water before the damage spreads, which matters most when you are away. Some insurers offer a discount for them. Your Home Manager can plan and arrange the installation.
A water meter that moves when nothing is running, stains or bubbling paint on ceilings and walls, warped floors, a musty smell, or the sound of running water in a wall. Old fittings and supply lines under sinks and toilets are common culprits. Leaks found early cost far less than leaks found late.
There are no monthly fees. Members buy a minimum of 60 hours of Home Manager time at $121 an hour, and unused hours never expire. Trade and maintenance work is billed through Zebrano as it is done, on the same invoice, because every home's needs are different.
Your Home Manager already has the shut-offs, the plans and the plumber, so you are not starting from a search engine in the middle of a leak.
Zebrano - Luxury Home Management. We look after Toronto homes: maintenance, trades, small renovations, refreshes and emergencies. In business since 2001.