Part H · the register

Gas Meters and Service Lines Before a Kirkwood Roof Job

Find the gas meter, its shutoff and the buried service line before a roof crew sets a ladder, a dumpster or a pallet of shingles.

A roof job puts people, ladders, pallets and a dumpster on the side of the house where the gas meter often sits. Most homeowners never think about the meter until the crew asks where the staging can go. On an older Kirkwood lot, where the side yard may be narrow and the driveway may be the only paved space, that question gets answered fast, and it is worth answering before the first delivery arrives.

This page covers what to check on the outside of the house, who marks the buried gas line, and what should be in writing before the work starts. It does not cover the furnace flue or the water heater vent on the roof, which need their own check. It is about the ground-level equipment that a roof crew can hit without meaning to.

Where the meter usually sits

In many older houses in Kirkwood, the gas meter is mounted on an exterior wall near the kitchen, the basement or the side yard gate. Remodels and service upgrades sometimes move it, and some houses have the meter at the rear. A simple way to know is to walk the outside of the house with a phone and photograph the meter, the pipe that comes up out of the ground to it, and the regulator if one is visible. Do that before the crew arrives, not during the job.

Count the clearance on each side. A meter with a ladder leaning against the wall beside it, or a pallet of shingles set down in front of it, is harder to read in an emergency and harder for the utility to reach. Ask the crew to keep the meter and its shutoff clear on every day of the job, including the day the dumpster is delivered and the days the crew is not on site.

What a roof crew can reach without trying

The roof is not the only place damage happens. Ladders need a footing, and on a narrow side yard the footing often lands on soft ground beside a foundation or over a buried line. Scaffold posts and hoist feet are heavier than a ladder. A dumpster set on a lawn can sink into soil that is still soft from a wet spring. A dumpster rolled or dropped against a meter can crack the riser, and a bent riser is not a repair a roofer can make.

Debris falls straight down on the side wall. Tear-off material, nails and flashing scrap can land on the meter cover and the piping below it. The protection is simple but usually has to be asked for: the crew places the debris chute or the dumpster away from the meter and the pipe, and a board or tarp covers the wall section under the chute.

Plants and fences matter too, mostly because they hide the meter. A shrub that has grown over the meter can make it hard to read or reach, and a crew that trims it without asking may cut away the cover of a utility box. Ask whether any vegetation will be removed near the meter and who decides that.

The buried line and who locates it

The service line that runs from the street or the main to the meter is buried, and nobody on a roof crew should be digging near it. A roof job does not usually involve excavation. Still, a dumpster placement, a staking job for a temporary fence, or a new downspout drain trench can cross the route. Any digging of that kind should be preceded by a locate request through Missouri 811, which marks underground utilities before the ground is opened. The homeowner can make the request, and so can the contractor, but the homeowner should confirm it was made and ask for the marks to be photographed.

The gas utility serving the house can also tell you where its equipment sits on your property. Call the number on your gas bill and ask where the meter, the shutoff valve and the service line are recorded. Ask whether the utility has a record of a recent relocation, because an old drawing may not match a remodel.

What should be in writing before the first delivery

A proposal that says the crew will protect the property is not specific enough. The written scope should name the staging position, the dumpster position and the path the material takes from the truck to the roof. It should say the meter and the shutoff will be kept clear, and it should say who moves a vehicle, a tote or a stack of bundles that is in the way. If a board or tarp is part of the protection, the proposal should say so.

Keys Roofing documents the site before work starts, with photos of the meter, the side yard, the planned staging and the dumpster spot. Those photos go into the homeowner's hands with the written scope and the measurements. That record is useful if anything is disturbed, and it gives the homeowner a fixed reference when a question comes up on site about where something was supposed to go. Questions about the work can go to the office at (314) 220-2333.

If you smell gas

If you smell gas at any point during the job, leave the house, keep people and animals out, and do not operate light switches, appliances or a phone inside the house. Do not start a car that is parked near the meter. Call the gas utility from outside the house or from a neighbor's home. The emergency number is printed on the bill, and many utilities run an emergency line at any hour. Tell the crew to stop work and move away from the meter area while the utility checks the line.

A crew that hits a line should stop, make the area safe, and call the utility before anyone tries to repair the pipe. Nobody on a roof crew should attempt a gas repair or fit a clamp to a damaged riser. The homeowner should ask for the damage to be photographed and written into the job file, the same way any other site change is recorded.

Before the crew arrives

The check takes about twenty minutes. Walk the outside of the house, photograph the meter and the shutoff, note the width of the side yard, and mark on a sketch where the dumpster and the ladder can stand. Call the gas utility if the meter is not where you expected it to be. Ask the roofer to show the same spots on the written scope. Then decide, with the crew, where the material will land and who keeps the path clear each morning.