DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF A MAINTENANCE EMERGENCY AT YOUR OBX HOUSING RENTAL HOME?
As most of our long-term renters know, OBX Housing is available to accept Maintenance Requests via the Tenant Portal 7 days per week/24 hours per day. When a Tenant submits a Maintenance Request an email notification is sent to each of our staff members so that a representative of OBX Housing can get back in touch with you immediately or as soon as possible.
If you were to have a water pipe leak or burst, it is important to know how to cut your water off to your home. All homes (except those on water pumps) have the main water shut off that is out at the street, this is where your water meter is that the City or Town reads each quarter. The valve would need to be turned to the right or left to shut off the water to the house. Some homes will also have a cut off put near the house, typically where the main water line comes into the home. Typically, the cut off is in a round or square plastic ground level box with the same type of shut off valve as the water meter. It is always best if you have both a cut off at the home and at the road to shut the water off in both places when you travel. We have seen instances in the past where neighbors have turned on the wrong water meter and caused a home to flood that did not have a cut off at the house. Not all homes have cut off valves at the house as this was not NC code many years ago.
Knowing where your electric panel is located will help you in an emergency situation if you are having sparking or electrical issues. The panel box at your OBX Housing rental home is typically located inside the home where the electric service and meter come into the house. If you are unsure, look for your electric meter and look inside behind the meter base. Because of the salt air and corrosion, we have in our area, many times Dominion Power must be called if you experience half power or only 110 volt items work and not 220 volt, etc. This is because the electric service to the house has experienced corrosion and a “leg” of the service that supplies your home has been disabled. For questions regarding electric service on the Outer Banks, you can reach Dominion Power at 866-366-4357. Their website is www.dom.com and is very user friendly to report power outages or view maps of area outages. You can also report downed power lines; street light outages as well as sign up to receive text and email alerts regarding your outage and electric bills.