Leaving the House

[hardee]

Last summer was my first time leaving the house for more than just a few days at a time. I probably didn’t do everything right so I’m curious, what are some of the things that you do when leaving for more than a couple weeks.

Some considerations:
Is it a good idea to turn off your city water supply at the curb?
Are there any specific things for a fridge or freezer?
Electricity to stay on or off.
Hot water heater?
Water to the washing machine will be turned off.
Cable, I-net and phone?
Newspaper or deliveries?

Any other ideas?

This entry is going into the C-BRATS ONLY section for obvious reasons and I’m aware we need to be careful about some things so please be aware.

PM’s would be OK.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[JamesTXSD]

Hi Harvey,

On average, we spend about 3 months per year at our home (for the last decade)... so we have this "leaving" stuff down.

We turn water off. In your case it may be at the curb, ours is just outside our house.

Fridge/freezer - we empty and turn it off. If power should go off for any extended time, you don't want to come back to the mess. (Keep in mind, our hoe is in a hurricane zone, but "stuff" can happen anywhere)

We leave electricity on. In our case, we want ceiling fans and a/c to run. When we had a home up north, leaving in the winter meant we wanted heat to run.

Water heater - ours is tankless, but we shut off the breakers. Again, at our home up north, we would drain the water heater and turn off the gas.

Cable, internet and phone - we have satellite TV and it travels with us; internet is via my cell phone hotspot, and our cell phones are our only phones - gave up the land lines years ago.

We would put our newspaper on vacation back in the day, but read them online now; and have the Post Office forward our home mail to a mail forwarding service we use. If you are only going to be gone a month or so, you can have the Post Office hold your mail and have the newspapers give your paper to a hospital or nursing home. These days, we get mail once a month or so... eliminated all magazine subscriptions, pay our bills online, so we get very little mail. That makes it easier to take off.

We leave a key with a neighbor, and have the world's best "neighborhood watch"... mostly retired people who keep an eye on everything you do, anyway. Our current home is in a gated community, with 24 hour security. It is easy to put down the hurricane shutters and walk away. Our homeowners association takes care of the lawn mowing... that is something to keep in mind if you are away during the summer.

 

[thataway]

We turn off water at the faucets such as under the sinks and commode. We have a pool, which requires water occasionally, and the fellow who looks after our house, occasionally waters, plants, and washes down areas.

Gas water heater turned off.

We only take digital newspapers, so we can follow it when we travel.

Mail--often we have the post office forward it to a specific locations by priority mail each week--or they will hold it for one month only. (We stay on the good side of the post mistress, since occasionally it is over a month...)

Power (AC or heat) stays on, but thermostats adjusted. Fridge and freezers on--food stored. We also have a "whole house" natural gas generator--and do have occasional power outages. The generator kicks on after about 60 seconds.

Lights on timers (important)--including front porch light.
We also have sensor lights on 4 corners of the house, plus mid way on one side and on 2 posts in the yard--to cover where the boats are kept.

We have 8 TV monitors, which can be accessed from any computer/cell phone, and recording for at least 2 weeks on the 4T hard drive.

TV put on "vacation". Phone recorder on--accessed occasionally if possible.

Neighbor has code (and remote) as well as keys to the house. ADT security.

One of the more important things, I believe is to have someone check the house at least 2x a week--just in case... We also have a neighbor hood watch. Our current president walks the street 2 x a day (6AM and 6 PM), looking specifically for any issues. He also has the first house on the street, and watches for "suspicious" cars.

 

[Pat Anderson]

I guess we are the loosest about this...when we went to Arizona for three months, we simply turned the heat down to 55df. We left electric and gas service on (needed for the gas heater). We did not turn the water off because the neighbor needed it to take care of our house plants and four gold fish. We did not turn off fridge or freezer, although Jim is right about how unpleasant it is if the power should go off, that has happened to us only once, early on, in 27 years we have owned our Birch Bay house (bought in 1989, moved here full time in December 2013). We simply have too much stuff in the fridge and freezer to empty them out. We do take or dispose of anything fresh that might go round the bend. We have generally moderate winter temps here, raining and in the 40s, and no hurricanes. YMMV!

 

[localboy]

#1 thing: I turn off the main water valve in the garage. Nothing worse than a water leak. I had a close friend who came home from a week vacation to their family room ceiling now their family room "floor". We also unplug such things as coffee maker etc. Cancel mail. Neighbor knows and has the garage door code since their daughter takes care of M's cats. We have exterior lights on a timer and two lamps so it "appears" someone is home. If long term, I'd shut off the water heater (gas).


Harvey, their should be a waste-gate valve in your garage somewhere that come from the meter. It will shut of the water to the entire house.

 

[hardee]

Thanks for these replies. Good advice.

Question about draining the hot water heater. Won't draining it allow for the inside to dry, the elements to oxidize (or rust), and the seals to dry and maybe harden?

I believe my shutoff is either at the street , (first choice), or under the house, (somewhere way below last choice -- as in, I went there once,
There were spiders. :shock: :roll: :amgry :thdown :thdown :thdown

Think I'll do the street one. No plants to water. Splash some bleach into the toilet bowls, and a few drops into the tanks.

The post office and mail are the tough ones. No places forwarding into Canada. All the real stuff goes to the PO, which they won't put on a vacation hold, instead they cram it into the PO box until it is all ready to go to the accordion factory. No possible way to extract, unfold, and open and read. Some St#!$d postal rule or something. Not very often ther is anything there worth looking at but....

Sure would be fun to just go without worry.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[BrentB]

At our other home.

First and believe this is very important is be street wise.
Be careful packing up stuff outside, by vehicles and boats.

Dont make it look like going on 10 ten year global trip on land, air and sea
Leaving garage doors, telling anyone outside your inner circle on travel plans or anything including conversations that will tip off dead beats that you are leaving bc you worked your butt off your entire life, would rather die than be called a slacker or un American

Here is our shut down list.

1. Turn off electric heater at the breaker but leave it full of water
2. Turn off main water valve outside the home but not at the street bc they will fine you, add a locking mechanism and lock to prevent it from operating
3. Turn off at the breaker box, all outside electrical outlets and boat lifts breakers
4, unplug washer, dryer and dishwater.
5. add duct tape tubs and sink drains and all inside faucets spouts - insect control
5. add saran wrap to toilet bowls - insect, vermin control
6. set thermostat to 78 F with AC on
7. triple lock garage door. One on the outside and 2 on tracks inside
8. All exterior light are motion detection and test the night before leaving. Side walk in front yard is dusk to dawn
9. Lock back yard gates with pad locks for controlled access
10. chain and lock small boat chained to davits lifts
12. All exterior doors have 2 locks: handset and deadbolts
13. test alarm system before leaving. Call alarm company first and test doors, motion detectors and smoke alarms.
14. padlock exterior main breaker box, boat lift breaker box and lift control unit at dock
15. Call all reliable neighbors. We regularly give them gifts. Several are daily walkers and they text us pics.
16.days before the inside is sprayed for bugs
17. secure all windows with 2 stops if possible
18. secure patio doors with track stop and lock
19. cut grass if needed and trim landscaping and trees
20. unplug TV, DVDs, electronics, kitchen gizmos and have electronics safety device added to breaker box for lightning and surge protection
21. close all curtains and add removable ones to any doors with windows.
22. no mail, newspaper, UPS, FEDEX, deliveries. Insect company have inside access
23. Neighbor likes to fish so he has a gate key and uses docks. He is so good and friendly and not afraid of no man. Like Marine confident
24.One refrigerator is dejunked and unplugged . Other - no temp change but ice maker turned off inside freezer and has it own water valve is closed
25. all ceiling fans turned off
26. Neighbors take our trash and recycle bins to the street the day of pickup
27. One neighbor can park in our driveway at any time.
28. stove and microwave off at breakers
29. inside doors remain open and closet doors closed
30. no inside plants to worry about
31. Perishables in refrig are discarded, give away or taken hone. Pantry items checked, No opened items.
32. Installing a safe soon. Triple bolted to 2 walls and floors
probably other stuff and disguised to make it less obvious
33. Garage items are secured as best as possible
34, If alarm sounds, the police comes right way and have them accessed fines twice in over 10 years so it is no big deal to me
35. I walk the neighborhood and met with any responsible folks and give them my contact info.

multi faceted approach but having a home and stand alone garage burglarized, a car stolen, a truck vandalized more than once, and seeing first hand, all up close and personal, wacked out on drugs and booze that I will give closer than 10 feet of them...... we are all about protecting ourselves, families, homes and boats. I am just sick of the dead beat
aholes

The Admiral just completed training on model 12 shotgun and several handguns at local range

 

[localboy]

Harvey, no need to empty the H2O heater; just turn off the juice (electric) or shut off the yellow valve that feed it (gas).

 

[JamesTXSD]

For 15 years before we retired, we had the opportunity to "practice" at it during the winter months. Like Dr. Bob, we had a friend at the local Post Office who would gather our mail and once a month or so would forward it to General Delivery at a place we'd designate. That worked great until she moved on, and the new Postmaster wasn't into "personal service." We switched our permanent address to a UPS Store and still use that. At our home in the Tropical Tip, we just have mail forwarded to the UPS Store when we are away. Fill out a card or take care of it online. We know we can't count on our local Post Office in Texas for much of anything. Mail is the easiest part of the leaving equation.

When we first started traveling extensively, cell phones weren't as prevalent as they are now, and coverage was spotty. Wifi didn't exist. Even ATMs were spotty. Traveling now is way easy, once you have the home situation covered.

Harvey, you have gotten a lot of good advice (some contradicting) and, as usual, have to pick what works for you. Water intrusion and other weather related issues are a big deal. You don't have to live in a hurricane zone to have a tree come down on your property (on the roof or across power lines)... this is why you want to have someone who will look in on your place regularly.

We used to leave our fridge running while gone. The first time we didn't was in 2008... the year Hurricane Dolly devastated our area. Our home wasn't breached, thanks to the hurricane shutters, but power was out in the entire area for 10 days or more. Imagine what your fridge (and kitchen) would look and smell like... if a breaker tripped because of a squirrel on a wire by your home.

Leaving a big investment like a home will probably not be worry free unless you have someone trusted living IN the home... but you can glean a lot from the responses in this thread to have a plan that works for you.

Happy traveling!

 

[Dreamer]

Harvey, If you have a propane tank, turn the valve off on it also.

 

[hardee]

All good advice, and I am looking and making a list that will work for me.

Thanks to everyone for all you practiced and practical ideas. Much a appreciated.

Hopefully it will be helpful to others too.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon