Leaving your house unoccupied for an extended length of time requires a few basic maintenance items to be performed to minimize damage and vandalism. This list is part common sense and part tips scraped from other web sites. If you have any suggestions we would love to hear from you.
- Leave the utilities on. It may seem like a good way to save money, but a call to our home owners insurance company informed us that turning utilities off for “an extended period of time” (length not specified) means your home is considered abandoned. And an abandoned home may be a home with no insurance. Check with your insurance carrier.
- Turn water off at the main to prevent damage from leaking pipes or faucets. I do this when leaving for more than a few days. Seems obvious.
- Turn water heater off (or “vacation” mode on newer models) and drain water from the tank.
- To keep the P-traps from drying out (and stinking up the house), pour a cup of RV antifreeze down each drain and toilet. The antifreeze evaporates much slower than water.
- Control humidity to reduce the chance of mold growth. This is less of a problem as we live in a semi-arid environment, but I still leave the AC on 80 degrees to have some dehumidifying take place.
- Turn off and thoroughly clean out the refrigerator and freezer. Leave the doors open and put boxes of baking soda inside.
- Clean the house from top to bottom to reduce enticement to critters.
- Place security cameras around the house that record to the cloud on movement. I also have them set to SMS me on movement. The cameras have a two way microphone/speaker, so I guess I can have a conversation with any burglars.
- Put a few lights on timers because that’s what you do when you leave. I’m not convinced this fools anyone.
- Flip off circuit breakers for everything you don’t need (which in our house leaves on only one dual-pole 30 AMP for AC, one 20 AMP for the radon mitigation system, and two 20 AMPs for lights and security cameras/system).
- Forward mail to an online mailbox company. I’ll write a post about this topic in next few days.
- Contract with someone to mow the lawn, pull weeds, etc. to look like the home is occupied.
- Have a friendly neighbor or home management company drop by every now and then and remove junk flyers and check on the place.
- Use a house sitter. If a house sitter is present the entire time, the above items do not need to be completed, except possibly mail forwarding.
So that’s the house. Now to any cars we’re leaving behind. For one month I don’t do anything special, but several months is long enough to warrant some special steps:
- Perform an oil change and, if a diesel, change both fuel filters.
- Fill the gas (or diesel) tank 100% full with fresh fuel just before leaving, and then add a stabilization agent such as Sta-bil or Sta-bil for diesel. I routinely use Sta-bil for long periods of the year when I’m not using certain vehicles (such as in the summer for the tractor or the winter for the UTV) and I’ve never had a problem with sludge or clogged fuel filters.
- Disconnect the battery from the vehicle and…let it die. Ideally I would connect the battery to a trickle charger, but isn’t that a fire risk when left unattended for several months? Seems like a better idea is to accept the cost of a new battery.
- Jack up all 4 corners of the vehicle and put it on blocks to minimize flat spots on the tires. I’m not doing this because my tires are at 3/32 of an inch and will be replaced anyways upon return.
