Tips, Tricks, and Resources – Travel Prep Part 3

This will be a continuation of my last two blog posts in dealing with Travel Prep.  If you’d like to read part 1 and part 2 you can find them here and here.

Now for this one I’m going to make the assumption that you are traveling from a mostly detached dwelling unit.  Something other than a condo or apartment.  I’m also going to assume that you will be driving on your travels, rather than flying, just because that’s the easiest way to get started.

What About The House???

The most important thing to think about and deal with concerning the house is the plumbing system.  It’s VERY important to winterize your house to some extent prior to departing.  Did you catch that VERY above?

If you live in a warm climate then you may just choose to shut off the main water line in to the house and be done.  You don’t have to worry about hoses or lines freezing, but hoses to degrade over time.  About 20 years ago I returned home to my duplex after weekend away to find the basement with about a foot of water in it.  It had a sump pump that wasn’t keeping up, so that will tell you how much water can run through your pipes quickly.  I had a laundry hose break to cause this issue.

If you are in a Northern climate I’d take more extensive measures, like we did.  Here’s what we did related to the plumbing system:

• Shut off the main water line in to the house
• Drain as much water in the pipes by opening all of the faucets
• Flush the toilets and drain as much water from the tanks as possible
• Pour some pipe antifreeze, like this, in to all of the drains and toilets, so the traps won’t freeze.  Then close all the drains and/or cover them and the toilets with saran wrap to keep them from evaporating
• Turn the temperature down in the water heater.  You can drain it and shut it down if you like.  We just set it to vacation mode.

Turn your furnace down to 55 degrees.  This was what I found through reading to be a good safe temperature.  Unplug as many items from the electrical sockets as you can, short of what is needed for the heating system, safety lights (interior and exterior), and the refrigerator.  This is where it becomes much easier if you use power strips in your house.  You can completely clean out the refrigerator too, if you wish,

This is actually a very good opportunity to clean out a bunch of stuff from the refrigerator and pantry though.  Anything that is years or ,*cough* decades, old should probably be thrown out.  It’ll be nice to start fresh on many of these things when you return.

Take out the garbage and put it in your bin.  Make sure to do your major cleaning and garbage taking out a week ahead of time, since you don’t want garbage in your can sitting in your garage awaiting your return.  Put your garbage cans in your garage before departing.

In the garage I’d unplug the opener and padlock the overhead door from the inside.  If anyone breaks in they won’t be able to get anything out the big door.

Make sure you have your lawn/snow care figured out.  Nobody likes a long term unkempt yard.  In addition, nothing screams out to anyone going past that the house is vacant like an unkempt yard.  Start looking for someone to handle this several weeks in advance, to make sure you’re not rushing at the last minute.

Close and lock all doors and windows.  If you have a security system you’ll obviously want to arm it on your way out.  You may even choose to let them know that you’ll be away, and to make sure they have your correct phone numbers to contact in case something comes up.  In addition, I’d recommend you talk to your cloverleaf of neighbors.  If you’re in the suburbs you’ll modify this.  In the City, you’d alert your three neighbors across the front of you house, the two neighbors next to you, and the three neighbors behind your house that you’ll be away and to call the police and you if anyone suspicious comes around.

Now…Leave and Live Your Life!!!

 

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