To shut off the water to your house at the meter, you typically need a "water meter key" which is a specialized t-shaped tool used to access and turn the valve on your water meter box.

He said it’s best to use a meter key, which are between $20 and $30 at many hardware stores, to turn the valve 90 degrees, which shuts the water off. Watch the video included with this story for ...

To turn the water supply off, give a gate valve a few turns clockwise until you can’t turn it any further. For ball valves, turn the lever clockwise 90 degrees.