Vacation Checklist 2019

10/11/2019 (Permalink)

When planning for an extended trip out of town, most of us focus on getting ready for the time while we’ll be away. But it’s equally important to prepare your home before you leave. Here are 10 ways to ready your home before going away on vacation.

Turning off the main water supply to your home is the best defense against flooding caused by a burst pipe or other plumbing failure. "If you're going to have a leaky supply line, it's going to happen while you're away," says Fred Spaulding, president of Quality Home Improvements, Inc., in Kingwood, Texas. And a major leak could be catastrophic if nobody’s around to deal with it. In the Houston area, where he lives, for example, hot-water tanks are placed in attics to avoid taking up floor space in living areas. "If that water tank leaks, you'd better catch it quickly," he says. "I've seen cabinets in kitchens destroyed. It only takes a little bit of a leak."

Closing the valve on the main supply line cuts off water to the house, but still allows outside sprinklers to work. If you do spring a leak inside, the line will be under some initial pressure, but it will not continue to spray water. "Instead of literally thousands of gallons of water, you might have a 50-gallon leak from the hot-water tank," Spaulding says. "There is no downside to turning off the water. It takes a little bit of time, and it can save thousands of dollars in potential water damage."

If you don’t want to turn off the water to the whole house, at least close the hot- and cold-water valves on the washing machine hoses. That’ll prevent flooding should the hoses burst while you’re away.

Another type of water—rainwater—can also cause trouble while you’re away. If the sump pump fails during a major storm, you could return to a flooded basement or crawlspace. So, make sure the sump pump is working before you leave town by dumping a bucket of water into the sump pit. If the pump doesn’t kick on, call a plumber.

And for an extra level of protection, install a sump pump that has a battery backup. This way, if the storm also knocks out the electricity, the sump pump will still operate.

If you have a programmable thermostat, Spaulding says, you're golden. "You can set and hold the temperature at 85 degrees while you're gone in the summer, then the day before you get back, the thermostat will lower the temperature to 72," he explains. If you have a manual thermostat, it's still worth turning it up while you're gone to avoid wasting energy. You'll just have to deal with a hot house when you get back.

But don't completely turn off the air conditioner or furnace during your vacation. "You want to keep the air circulating so it doesn't have time to condensate," Spaulding says. And it keeps the house from turning into an oven, which can impact wood doors, cabinets and flooring. Tom O'Grady, president of O'Grady Builders in Drexel Hill, Pa., agrees, "You can have tremendous heat buildup, which can have an effect on surfaces like wood floors," he says. Since wood expands when it's warm, excessive heat could cause the flooring to expand and buckle, and doors to not close properly.

The same goes for winter travelers, but in reverse. Turn down the thermostat while you're away, but don't turn off the furnace completely, which could put your pipes in danger of freezing.

If you'll be gone for more than a few days—especially in the middle of the summer—and don't have an in-ground sprinkler system, use a soaker hose

to keep your flowerbeds or vegetable gardens watered. You can set the hoses on a timer, so they’ll turn on and off at preset times, preferably twice a day: early morning and late afternoon.

To make your house appear occupied while you're gone, and a less appealing target for burglars, put timers

on lamps in different rooms of your home. The timers turn on and off the lights at different times of the night, as if someone in the house were flipping a switch. Timers are available at home centers for less than $10 a piece.

And for a few extra bucks you can purchase smart timers or WiFi bulb sockets, which allow you to control lights remotely with your smart phone.

Pro tip: Here’s another way to give your home a lived-in look: ask a neighbor to park their cars in your driveway while you’re away. 

It’s not recommended to completely turn off a water heater, but you can a significant amount of energy—and money—while on vacation by switching the water heater to vacation mode. If your heater doesn’t have vacation mode, simple lower the temperature several degrees to prevent it from cycling on and off so often.

If you’ll be gone during the winter, flush all the toilets in your home to drain the water out of the tanks. That way, if your furnace stops working, the water in the tanks won't freeze, expand, and crack the porcelain.

But even if you shut off the water supply to the toilet and then flush the toilet, there will still be some water in the bowl. The solution? Marine antifreeze. "Pour a little antifreeze into the toilet to keep it from freezing," Spaulding says. "Then when you come home, flush the toilet to clear it away." Just be sure to use marine antifreeze, which is nontoxic.

If your home is equipped with a monitored alarm system, be sure to contact the company to let them know that you’ll be away. And confirm that they have not only your cell-phone number, but also the phone number of a trusted neighbor, just in case the company can’t get a hold of you.

If any of your televisions, computers, sound systems, and other electronics are plugged directly into the wall rather than into a surge protector, pull the plugs in case a power surge happens while you're away. If the devices are plugged into surge protects, simply flip the switch to power them off.

Unplugging electronics and turning off surge protectors can also save you some coin. "All of these electronics are drawing power," O'Grady says, “even when they're not in use.” And that vampire voltage adds up. The Department of Energy estimates that the average U.S. family spends $100 annually to power devices that are turned off or in standby mode.

If you’ll be gone for more than a few days, it’s smart to halt mail delivery until you return. Stop by the post office and pick up an Authorization to Hold Mail form. The postal service will hold your mail for a minimum of three days, but not more than 30 days. And you can choose to either have all the accumulated mail delivered to your mailbox on the day you return, or they’ll hold it for you to pick up at the post office. This service is offered free of charge.

Also, be sure to stop newspaper delivery. Nothing says, “No one’s home, come take our stuff,” more than a stack of newspapers on your front lawn.

Article by: Joseph Truini (Popular Mechanic)