Hi, thanks in advance for your time. I have a leaky kitchen faucet (cold water). In an effort to replace the washer, I turned off the cold water under the sink which worked fine. But then I tried turning off the hot water and it would not completely shut off. After several attempts to tighten this valve, I decided to just turn off the water main. I did so, opened up the faucets upstairs to drain the pipes, and waited at least 10 min. But the water STILL came out of the kitchen faucet (small, steady stream). What am I doing wrong? Why can't I get the water to turn off in my townhouse in order to do this simple repair? THANKS!

Apparently your stops are all fairly old and the seals are not working properly. There should be a city shut off outside the building but that valve may affect other townhomes so check with the city or maintenance company if you have one. If you open all faucets and maybe even the water heater drain you may get it down to a trickle so you can do your repairs. However that would still leave the issue of your main not working correctly. I would get this taken care of now since a broken toilet or pipe inside your home can not be stopped, currently. Do you have a managing company or maintenance company who can close the outside main?

Thanks so much for your help! Not sure where the outside shut off is, but I'll look into it. I don't have a maintenance or managing company, unfortunately. Only thing is an HOA.

The HOA will know what you are talking about. Just tell them you need their main to be closed so you can replace your interior shut off and other stops. If their main affects other homes you may need this to be schduled so as to not affect too many other owners. They may also require or expect you to employ a licensed plumber to do the work. HOA by-laws vary greatly so just ask.

You need to open faucets at the highest point to let in air and open at a point lower than the point being repaired. Sometimes bleeding off some hot water from the drain also helps.

The outside shut off is called a "curb stop" and might affect other units.

The ability to be able to access this valve is covered by county/city reualtions. It's usually protected by a 5 sided bolt (Key) and a plate labeled water. Sometimes it has to be located by the water company because grass has grown over it.

A work around solution for the kitchen faucet. You can turn off the cold right. The hot won't completely close, correct. The main valve inside will not completely shut off, correct?

Turn off the cold water input valve to the water heater. Open hot side of any faucet and relieve pressure in hot line. You may then make kitchen faucet repairs.

Suggest that you plan on a time to repair or replace main inside valve since you don''t when you will need to turn off all water to the house again. If this is a single residence you probably should call the city to schedule the turn off and on. Depending on your plumbing skills you may or may not wish to engage a plumber to work with the main shut off valve. You don't want to be waiting for the city to come back a second time because you have a leaking main valve.

I agree with all of these answers. But, if you really want a quick fix, you don't need to turn off the hot water to fix the cold side. I am assuming that you have a two handle faucet when you say you are replacing a washer. Just turn off the cold stop under the sink, and do your repairs on the cold side only. If you find that your hot side is leaking, then follow all of the other advice. My advice would be to have a licensed plumber come in and make the repairs. If I am mistaken, and you have a single handle faucet, then this will not work for you, and once again I would take the advice off the other answers, especially the one about turning off the hot water heater inlet.