Who to call, and what to do first

Introduction

Nothing is for sale here. You shut what you can shut, you keep people and the services safe, and you call someone qualified. Qordac has no tied tradespeople, books no jobs and publishes no phone numbers.

The box at the bottom opens PagineGialle for the town you type. You check reviews and VAT. It is not a ranking.

Water coming through a ceiling or a wall

Shut the water to the home, if the main valve is reachable and it turns. Put a bucket down, move what the water will ruin, and dry only where you can walk without reaching a socket.

If the water is near sockets, switches or lights, cut the power at the main before you touch anything in that area, and only if you can reach the switch without walking in the water and without opening the board. Do not open sockets or appliances while they are live: an electrician.

Dated photos of the spot and of the path the water takes. If the ceiling wets and there is a flat above, tell the neighbour. In a block, tell the building manager too: it may be a stack, not only your floor.

Do not drill the plasterboard to “see where it comes from”. Not DIY. A plumber.

A hot socket or a smell of burning

Cut the power at the main. Do not touch the socket, do not change the socket, do not open the board. If you smell burning or the plastic is hot, leave that room after the power is off, if you can do it without touching the appliance.

An electrician. Not a wiring tutorial. If there is smoke, or you cannot reach the main safely, 112.

A smell of gas

Do not light a flame and do not flip a switch, neither to turn something off nor on. Open the windows. Close the meter tap if you can reach it without effort. Leave.

Call the distributor’s emergency number on the bill. If there is danger, 112. No DIY on gas or the boiler: a qualified technician. No tape on gas fittings.

A boiler in lockout

If you do not smell gas and there is no water on the electrics, read the code on the display and keep the booklet to hand. Do not open the casing, do not touch gas valves, do not keep resetting if the lockout returns at once.

A qualified technician. On the call you need the brand, the model and the code you can read, not a guess at the part.

Wastes backing up in more than one place

If the WC, the shower and the basin fill together, or water rises on the ground floor, it is the stack, not one fixture’s trap. Do not pour a chemical. Do not plunge a pan that is rising.

A plumber. In a block, the building manager as well: the run may be shared. One slow sink is another page, a drain that runs slowly.

What to have ready before you call

Photos of the spot, with a date. Brand and model, if you can read them without taking anything apart: boiler, tap, split, cistern. Where the water valve, the gas meter and the main switch are, so you can point to them without searching in the dark.

When it started, whether it gets worse when you use an appliance, whether the flat above or the neighbour has the same problem. You do not need a diagnosis. You need what you actually saw.

How to choose a tradesperson

A written quote, saying what is included and what is not. A VAT number you can check, not only a number read out on the phone. Reviews you read yourself, not a ranking from this site.

No deposit without a quote. No “I’ll come now, cash later, nothing on paper”. If the job is in a block, ask whether the manager has to be told before anyone opens a stack or a shared wall.

If you have a home insurance policy

Before anyone strips the damage or throws the broken part away, read the policy: what it asks for as proof, and whether they want to see the damage. Qordac cannot summarise your contract for you. If you have no policy, the call is the same: the technician qualified for that fault.