Emergency Plumber in Valley Stream, NYOld Shutoffs, Shared Mains, Low Streets

The Census Bureau's latest five-year survey says 30% of the village's homes were built before 1940 and the median year built is 1951. In a house that old, the main valve is often an original gate valve in the basement where the water line comes through the front wall. Gate valves that haven't been turned in years can seize or snap. Try yours once on a calm day. If it won't close, or it drips at the stem when you turn it, that's worth fixing before a pipe bursts, not during.

Robert Pagan picked the village's name in 1843 for the Valley Stream brook that runs through it, Wikipedia says. Our overlay of FEMA's flood map on the Census village boundary puts about 13% of the village in the high-risk flood zone, including a floodway strip along the stream, and another 14% in the moderate-risk zone. In 2012, Sandy's surge flooded Hungry Harbor Road and streets in the southwest corner of Mill Brook. If water is rising in a basement, stay away from outlets and appliances standing in it, and don't relight a water heater or boiler that was under water. Basement floor drains that back up only in heavy rain or a storm tide point to the street sewer surcharging. A backwater (sewer check) valve on the house sewer is the fix, and we install them.

Valley Stream requires a village Building Department permit for all plumbing work, including direct replacement of an existing fixture. So a stop-the-leak visit and the permanent repair can be two steps.