A plumbing emergency in Los Angeles: shut off the water, who to call, and how to check the plumber

1. If you smell gas, go outside now. Touch no switches or anything electrical, and use no phone. From outside, call SoCalGas at 1-800-427-2200, or 911 if the leak could endanger anyone or damage property, or if you cannot reach SoCalGas. Do not turn the gas back on yourself. A carbon monoxide alarm, or anyone feeling dizzy or sick, means everyone out and 911 from outside.
2. Cut power to the wet rooms only if the breaker panel is dry and reachable without standing in water. It is a gray metal door on an outside wall, in the garage or a hallway; flip the switches for those rooms, or the large one at the top. If water comes through a light fixture or fan, nobody stands under it.
3. Shut off the water. For a sink or toilet, turn the small oval handle on the pipe at the wall clockwise until it stops. For anything else, close the main valve where the pipe enters the house: outside near the front hose faucet, in the garage, or in a box near the sidewalk. A lever turns a quarter turn; a round handle turns clockwise. For a leaking water heater, close the valve on the cold pipe above the tank. If you cannot find or turn the main valve, call your water utility; in the City of Los Angeles that is LADWP, at 1-800-342-5397.
4. If water or sewage comes up a drain, toilet or tub, stop using water anywhere in the house: no flushing, showers, washer or dishwasher. Keep people and pets out of it; the EPA says sewage damage needs a professional.
5. Photograph everything, and write down the date and time, before anything is moved or cleaned.
6. For clean water, start drying now: mop, pull up rugs, move furniture. The EPA says to dry wet areas within a day or two to prevent mold. For sewage, run no fans; moving air spreads it.

1. SoCalGas first, for any gas smell.
2. A plumber for everything on your side of the water meter: a license with the C-36 Plumbing classification, the state's plumbing class, shown at cslb.ca.gov.
3. The water utility when the leak is on the street side of the meter. In the City of Los Angeles that is LADWP, which does not repair leaks on private property.
4. LA Sanitation, inside the City of Los Angeles, when a plumber's camera shows the blockage in the public main under the street: 1-800-773-2489.
5. A restoration company when water has soaked floors, walls or cabinets, or came from a drain or sewer. The Contractors State License Board says any job of $1,000 or more needs a contractor license. So does a smaller job that needs a permit or hired workers. Ask for the number.
6. Your insurer, as soon as the water is off. Do not wait for the adjuster (the insurer's inspector) to start drying.

Ask for the license number on the phone. At cslb.ca.gov, open Check a License and search by number or name. Plumbers must show their name, address and license number on their commercially registered work vehicles. At the door, check that the truck and paperwork match the record, and ask which company employs the technician. Ask the one who signs the contract for the pocket license (the state's wallet card) and photo ID.

The record shows whether the license is active and its classifications, the kinds of work it covers. It shows the bond (money you can claim against if the work goes wrong), workers' compensation or an exemption, and public complaints.

Get it in writing. By law the contract must show the contractor's name, business address, email address and license number. It must describe the work and significant materials, state the price, and give approximate start and completion dates. It must show any down payment. If you will pay anything else before the job is finished, it must list progress payments tied to specific work. The license board also advises writing down who applies for the permit and any warranty.

A repair you asked for, priced at $750 or less, with nothing sold beyond the fix, is a service and repair contract. You owe nothing until the work is done, and your right to cancel ends once you hold a signed copy and work starts. If it breaks those limits, the full cancellation rights apply. Anything bigger is a home improvement contract. Its down payment is capped at $1,000 or 10 percent of the price, whichever is less, and later payments cannot run ahead of the work. One signed at your home can be canceled in writing or by email within three business days after you receive a signed copy. That becomes five business days if you are 65 or older, and seven for declared disaster repairs.

1. Report the damage once the water is off, and log every call. Keep the photos, the plumber's invoice and the broken part.
2. Your policy requires you to protect the property from further damage, so do not wait for the adjuster to start. The California Department of Insurance says your insurer will reimburse reasonable protection costs as long as you keep the receipts. It also says a policy may not cover damage that follows if you did not take reasonable steps. Make temporary repairs to stop the damage, and hold permanent repairs until the adjuster has been to your home; the Department says temporary repairs count toward your settlement.
3. Read the policy. The Department's guide lists sudden and accidental water damage on its covered side, and seepage or leaks, wear and tear, flood and mold on its not-covered side. Check whether it pays for the pipe itself or only the water damage. Check too whether sewer or drain backup is excluded or added by endorsement, a written addition to the policy.
4. The adjuster may write a scope of loss: what was damaged, with materials and measurements, not always prices. Ask for a copy and compare the contractor's estimate against it line by line. If your contractor's written estimate is higher, California's insurance regulations give the insurer three choices. It must pay the difference, name a company that will do the work for its figure if you ask, or adjust the estimate in writing.
5. The contractor is your choice; unless you ask for a referral, the insurer may recommend a company only after telling you in writing that you may choose your own.
6. If the claim stalls, write to the insurer's claims manager and its claims executive. Then call the Department's hotline at 1-800-927-4357 or file a Request for Assistance, its complaint form, at insurance.ca.gov.

• Diagnosis first: what failed, where, and how they know.
• Call-out terms stated before the truck is sent: the after-hours or diagnostic charge, and whether it comes off the repair price.
• Repair options where they exist. For a sewer line: a spot repair, lining (a new pipe formed inside the old one) or replacement. For a water pipe: a patch, a new section or a repipe (all the water pipes replaced).
• Permits named. In the City of Los Angeles, the Department of Building and Safety issues plumbing permits for water heater replacement, water and gas piping, and sewer repair or replacement. These are express permits, issued with no plan check (the review of drawings). Sewer work between your property line and the street main needs a Bureau of Engineering sewer permit. Only a sewer contractor approved and bonded by the City can get it. Long Beach, Torrance, Santa Monica and most other cities in the county have their own building departments; unincorporated areas and a few cities permit through the county.
• Older homes. Before about 1980, and sometimes later, joint compound, plaster, acoustic ceilings, floor tile and pipe insulation can contain asbestos, and paint from before 1978 can be lead paint. Only a lab test tells. The South Coast Air Quality Management District's asbestos rule requires an asbestos survey by a Cal/OSHA Certified Asbestos Consultant before a contractor renovates or demolishes a single-family house. That applies whatever the home's age, with narrow exceptions. Ask whether it has been done.

• Which company employs the person at my door, and what is its license number?
• What is the call-out charge, and does it come off the repair price?
• Who applies for the permit, and who meets the inspector?
• Is this a service and repair contract or a home improvement contract?
• Has anyone checked for asbestos before opening these walls?