How to Build a Home Maintenance Binder That Survives
A ring binder beats an app for house records, but most binders die within a year. The sections that work, what to file, and how to keep it alive.
Guide
Property records · PR-10
Emergency Shut-Off Locations Sheet
A free printable sheet recording where the water stopcock, gas valve and consumer unit are — filled in before you need them, not during a leak.
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2 pages. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.
Print it and write on it
Fill it in type and save
The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.
What this sheet is for
Make sure anyone in the household can turn off the water, gas or electricity quickly, including people who did not move in with the property.
Who it is for
Every household. Particularly useful for renters, holiday lets, house-sitters and anyone with older relatives living alone.
How to use it
- Walk to each shut-off and operate it, so you know it moves and you know the route.
- Write down exactly where each one is — 'under the sink' is not enough in the dark.
- Fill in the emergency numbers.
- Pin it inside a cupboard door where anyone can find it.
What is on the sheet
2 pages, in this order:
Page 1
Printed under the title: Where the water, gas and electricity turn off, written down before you need it. Print it, fill it in, and put it on the inside of a cupboard door where anyone can find it.
Test each one now, not later. Fill this in by walking to each one and operating it, so you know it moves and you know the route. A stopcock discovered during a leak is usually seized.
Water
Write-on lines: Mains stopcock — exactly where · Which way to close · Does it turn freely? · Internal stop valve / isolation · Outside stop tap location
Gas or fuel
Write-on lines: Meter and emergency control valve — where · Oil or LPG tank isolation — where · Emergency number · Supplier
Electricity
Write-on lines: Consumer unit / breaker panel — where · Main switch labelled? · Spare fuses / torch kept
Page 2
Heating and other
Write-on lines: Boiler isolation switch · Heating oil / pump isolation · Solar / battery isolation · Alarm system isolation
Who to call
Table, 17 rows: Trade · Name / company · Number · Notes
Ruled lines: Notes and anything specific to yours
Questions
Should I really turn the stopcock?
Yes — a stopcock that has not been operated for years is very often seized, and you want to discover that now rather than during a leak. Turn it off and on again gently; if it will not move, get it replaced.
Is this useful in a rented property?
Especially so. Tenants are often shown nothing at handover, and this is exactly the information that goes missing between tenancies.
Read next
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Frost damage is a drainage problem more than an insulation problem. What to drain, what to isolate, and how to leave a property that will not burst.
Guide
Related sheets
New Home Record Sheet
Capture the things you need to know about a new property while you are still paying attention, rather than at two in the morning during a leak.
PR-06 2 pages
Home Maintenance Schedule
Turn a vague intention to look after the house into a page you can tick off, so the jobs that only need doing once or twice a year actually get done.
PR-01 2 pages
Also in the resources library
The same subject, with a version you can fill in on screen.
Emergency Preparedness Checklist
What is already in the house, and what still has to be bought or found.
SF-91 Checklist PDF Online
Flood and Storm Preparation Checklist
Which documents, references and numbers are written down and where.
SF-493 Checklist PDF Online
Going Away Home Checklist
The kitchen, water and heating dealt with so nothing is left running or rotting.
HF-312 Checklist PDF Online
Home Emergency Information Sheet
Where the stopcock, the gas or oil shut-off and the consumer unit are, and how to use them.
HP-09 Form PDF Online
