I can't find my stopcock!

[Lillyludge]

I'm so embarrassed
I've lived in my house for 5 years and I still can't find it. It's a big house but not THAT big. However, the electricity meter was hidden away at the back of a cupboard behind some shelves...really odd place for it be...so I'm wondering if the previous owners (who had list of work done on the house have hidden the stopcock somewhere odd too.

The last time I had a plumber round to service my boiler I asked him to look for it but he couldn't find it either -so it's not just me being really stupid- and he looked everywhere he could think of. I'm a bit embarrassed to hire someone specifically to look for it!
One day I'll have a flood or a leak or something and then I'll be buggered...
Can anyone think of a way I can track it down?

I know it took me ages to find ours and when I was talking to a plumber about it he told me a story about some work he had done on a terraced house where the stop cock was about two streets away because of building work which had happened since the house was built!

I live in a flat and our water stopcock is in the corridor of the flats underneath us, unmarked and near the ceiling. Was glad I thought to ask the day we moved...

As some said, there is a chance it isn't in your property. In the last flat we rented it was in the flat below which was unoccupied - luckily we didn't have cause to use it. Prior to that we have lived in tenaments where you turned the water off in the street. Current house has it under the sink, but you has to remove most of the cupboard carcass to get to it - have just had it moved.
(Would be worth checking you know where your electric and gas turned off as well!)

I think I've found it! Small metal plate with a 'W' on it? On the pavement outside my house....

I take it I would need a special tool to lift the plate?

This page has a picture of what you need www.handymanknowhow.co.uk/plumbing/turningoffwater.htm not sure how easy they are to find. Also consider the time of day you try to turn it off. It might be the supply for more than your house!

Lilly

you have perhaps found a water meter or company valve.

The special tool is the handle of an old teaspoon, or a large screwdriver that you will never again use on a screw. Can you attach a photo?

mine is unusually big

but some have a T handle

We have one in the house and a small metal plate outside in the pavement, like yours.

Our outside one is just for our house, fitted when we had our own new mains connection installed

I have accessed it, though some time ago, but iirc I didn't need any special tools either to open it or turn it