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Replacing curb stops across a townhouse complex.
A New Westminster strata wanted every home to have a working water shutoff. We tested each curb stop, then dug up and replaced the ones that wouldn’t close and swapped out the old meter boxes for new valves.
We tested every shutoff first.
A curb stop is the buried valve that shuts off water to one home. If it doesn’t close, a leak inside the home means shutting off the whole complex. This was the second phase of a project for the strata, covering the homes we hadn’t done in phase one.
We went home by home and tried each one. Most closed and held. Four didn’t: two duplex stops wouldn’t hold, one wouldn’t move at all, one couldn’t be reached to turn, and one wouldn’t fully close.
Dig, replace, test, backfill, one home at a time.
After a BC One Call, we booked water shutdowns with notice to residents and worked through the complex. At each home we dug down to the curb stop, removed the old stop or meter setting, installed a new stop or ball valve with thrust blocking, turned the water back on and tested it.
One home had a water meter owned by the City of New Westminster. We were told not to remove it, so we left it in place.
A planned project, not an emergency.
Because nothing was leaking, everything could be scheduled around residents.
Test every shutoff
Turn each curb stop and record which ones close and hold.Plan the shutdowns
Call BC One Call and send water shutdown notices for each day of work.Replace
Dig, swap the curb stop or meter setting for a new valve, and test it.Backfill and record
Fill in each dig, add curb boxes, and record what was done at each home.Every home can now be shut off on its own.
All the failed curb stops and old meter settings were replaced and tested with no leaks, except the one city-owned meter we were told to leave. The strata now has a working shutoff at each home and a record of which valve is where.
Every curb stop tested
Failed stops replaced at five locations
Old meter settings replaced with new valves
City-owned meter left in place as instructed
Start with the problem. We will help plan the next step.
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