Prepping the house for a long trip

ericandalice · May 17, 2012

I searched all over and couldn't find a better place to ask this. But if there is one, feel free to move it.

When it comes to part timing, what steps do you take to prepare your house?

We're planning to be gone long enough to shut off utilities, but I'm wondering what else I should be doing. Aside from drawing all the curtains, making sure the fridge/freezer is empty but left open. The yard crew is coming every two weeks.

JohnDar · May 17, 2012

ericandalice said:
I searched all over and couldn't find a better place to ask this. But if there is one, feel free to move it.

When it comes to part timing, what steps do you take to prepare your house?

We're planning to be gone long enough to shut off utilities, but I'm wondering what else I should be doing. Aside from drawing all the curtains, making sure the fridge/freezer is empty but left open. The yard crew is coming every two weeks.

Replace standard outside/porch lights with motion sensor ones. Add some solar and/or wired perimeter lighting around the house. Get an automatic light controller for the indoor lighting to turn lights on/off in different rooms at different times. Stop the mail or have it forwarded (or picked up daily by a trusted individual). Stop all newspapers. Turn off the water at the main house valve. Unplug all parasitic electrical devices, including TV's and electronics. Install a monitored security system. If you have a basement with a sump, a backup sump (battery powered) might be something to consider, as well.

And leave word with your local police dept. that you'll be gone for an extended period and the house vacant. Give them a contact number that you or someone responsible (with access) can be reached at should the need arise.

danemayer · May 17, 2012

Of course we stop newspaper delivery and on long trips, we use Premium Mail Forwarding from the Post Office so all our mail catches up with us.

I usually shut off the water to the house, but not to the sprinkler system (had separate cutoffs installed last year). If you can't shut off water to the whole house, definitely shut the valves to the washer. Maybe shut down the water heater and shut off water to it if you can. You might want to shut off water to sinks and toilets if you'll be gone a long time.

Have a neighbor check for unexpected packages, flyers, and door hangers that would show up at your front door.

I leave the A/C running, but set the thermostats at 85. That cuts the bill but doesn't let the humidity get too bad in the house.

ericandalice · May 17, 2012

So you guys don't actually shut off the power and the water? We were going to have both completely turned off via the utility company.

We have a septic tank, so I don't forsee any problems there.

Our neighbors are going to keep an eye on things. We'll touch base via phone and facebook.

We're going to get them to stop delivering the paper. That's a good thought about flyers, because our neighborhood does get the occasional solicitor.

danemayer · May 17, 2012

So you guys don't actually shut off the power and the water?

I think if we turned off the power (and A/C) for 2 months in the summer, we might have problems. In the winter, a hard freeze would do us in without having the furnace running, even if only to 55 degrees. We have water cutoff valves outside, so the city doesn't have to be involved.

JohnDar · May 17, 2012

I don't shut off the power since there are still things that need it, like the A/C, security system and lighting, refrigerator, freezer, and the sump pump. Should there be a power failure, I have a NG fired generator that will automatically kick on to handle everything. I also will leave the sprinkler system on (two meters with separate valves), but shut off the supply to the rest of the house via a valve after the primary meter.

The caveat to how we do it versus how you might is that our absences from home have never exceeded three weeks. If we're gone and don't have the cats with us, I have a trustworthy young woman that comes daily to care for them and bring in the mail. She's also on the call list should there be an alarm activation.

jbeletti · May 17, 2012

Here's what I do:

Shut off Water
Shut off Water Heater
Adjust Heat and Cool set points for the furnace
Set lights up on a security schedule
Activate the "mail lady"
Let our neighbors know we are leaving

Because it's an "interest" of mine, I use a home automation (Homeseer) system and click a screen button on my iPhone or iPad to run an event called "Upon Leaving for a Trip". The system takes care of items 1-4. We call the woman in our subdivision who runs a mail service. She gets our mail daily and also checks the porch for boxes and grabs those up too.

When we are a few hours from home, on our way back, I run an event called "Upon Arriving Home from a Trip". It resets items 2-4. I turn the water back on, once we arrive home - just in case.

Lighting comes on based on sunset minus x minutes. Lighting goes off based on sunset plus x minutes and then is randomized a bit.

We can monitor our home from afar, including video. Fun stuff!

RanCarr · May 21, 2012

We do most of what is already mentioned when we head for FL for 3 months in the winter. One thing we don't do is shut off the electric. We have lamps with those compact florescent bulbs on timers. It looks like someone is there. There's few things that will attract the attention of criminals more than a house dark night after night. It's a dead giveaway. We have great neighbors who keep an eye out while we are away.

zurn · Sep 10, 2012

Don't know if you have cable or dish. We have dish and they have a vacation pause program that suspends your payment to just five dollars a month if you are gone for more than two months. Just notify them when you leave and then let them know a few days ahead of your return.We used this program last winter and it worked perfect. Saves quite alot of money! Carol

mikeandconnie · Sep 10, 2012

Put bleach or a chemical in the toilet bowls for mold. We have found mold growing all over the toilet after many months away. My wife uses the blue tablets.

jpdoggett · Sep 10, 2012

We are away for 6 months and we have the water shut off, put the hot water tank on vac, shut down cable tv(put on vac) we lwave the phone on and we forward it to the phone in Texas, unplug everything but the home computers and frig. forward our mail and we have two neighbors that have codes for the alarm system and keys to the house and they keep a eye on it and makes sure the computers are up and running(we have a program where we can log onto the home computers from Texas and your screen from home comes up on the screen and you use it like you where home set the temp at 55 so things don't freeze. The reason we turn the water off is the charge a min of $17.00 a month plus sewer fee's we save about $40.00 a month but it cost to turn it back on. and this is comimg up real soon we leave the 29th for Texas

Ray LeTourneau · Sep 11, 2012

mikeandconnie said:
Put bleach or a chemical in the toilet bowls for mold. We have found mold growing all over the toilet after many months away. My wife uses the blue tablets.

We use Saran Wrap to cover the toilet bowl. Once we winterize the toilet, cover the bowl with saran wrap, this will prevent the water from evaporating and you'll come back to a bowl that's clean & fresh, ready to use.

DougS · Sep 11, 2012

We do most of the things mentioned except shutting water and power of with utilities, water is shut off at side of the house. We also do not stop mail, we have a mailbox where you take the floor out, and the mail drops to the bottom. Mail is checked once a week by family. We also have a program on the iPad with a check list for leaving the house that we use as a final check before locking the door. Usually we find we forgot one or two things. Another thing we have done is gone to a combination front door lock. In case of an emergency, we can give the combination out over the phone, then a family member can remove that combination if necessary. As others have mentioned, we have good neighbors who keep an eye out. We have gone to satellite TV and have a receiver on the RV at all times.

TXTiger · Sep 11, 2012

In addition to all the good items mentioned above . . . I leave the power on to turn on the lights on a timer so I pull the refridgerator away from the wall, unplug it and leave the doors open so that mold won't grow, and I turn off the hot tub outside. These two items use a lot of energy and this helps reduce my utility bill while I am gone.

dave10a · Sep 11, 2012

While on extended trips. I shut off the water, fill the toilets after flushing them and drains with RV anti-freeze. Open the in side and out side water faucets(to drain and relieve pressure in case of freeze expansion), put propane water heater in vacation mode, set propane furnace to 45deg, activate my auto dialer that I designed to sense room temperature, smoke and motion detectors(the auto dialer calls my cell phone and informs me of low temperature below 35 deg, fire or motion). Remove ice and shut off ice maker in frig, but leave it operating. Stop paper and active mail forwarding. Lock-and leave

Willym · Oct 10, 2012

Don't forget to remove the sean wrap when you come home! It's a popular student prank apparently.

Ray LeTourneau said:
We use Saran Wrap to cover the toilet bowl. Once we winterize the toilet, cover the bowl with saran wrap, this will prevent the water from evaporating and you'll come back to a bowl that's clean & fresh, ready to use.

Ray LeTourneau · Oct 13, 2012

Willym said:
Don't forget to remove the sean wrap when you come home! It's a popular student prank apparently.

EEwww...

ILH · Oct 13, 2012

When you return from an extended trip (anything over 2 weeks), consider having a friend or family member reset your thermostat 24 hours before arriving. My utility installed an internet enabled thermostat a couple of years ago - so I'm able to connect to my house via wifi before returning home.

Prepping the house for a long trip

ericandalice

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JohnDar

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ericandalice

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