We’ll be away from our home in the Atlanta area for all of July, plus a few days in late June and early August. AFAIK, it will be longest I’ve ever left any home unattended, although my wife will be back home for a couple of days in the middle.
Here’s what I plan to do:
[ul]
[li]Either set thermostat to 85+ or turn the AC off altogether. [/li]
[li]Turn on alarm system. (Sensors only, no cameras.)[/li]
[li]Hold mail and newspaper.[/li]
[li]Give a neighbor a spare key and ask them to pick up any flyers, papers, etc. that are left on the driveway, stoop, or mailbox. They’ll also have our phone numbers to call in case anything happens.[/li][/ul]
If it weren’t for the fact that my wife will be back on her own for a few days, I’d probably turn off the water heater. But she’d have a hard time restarting it, so I’ll leave it on.
I’m considering whether to get some timers to switch lights on and off while we’re away. The thing about that is that for anyone casing the joint, it would look unnatural, since when we’re home we almost never have the lights on the the rooms that face front. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.
We have two cars, and we’re leaving one here. I was thinking I might move it into the garage to protect it, but leaving it in the driveway would make the house look more occupied. Better to protect the house than the car?
In my suburb, if you tell the cops you will be out of town they can schedule a drive-by and have a look. But cops in my suburb don’t have a lot to do.
I’ve never been gone from my house that long, but I have heard recommendations that you turn the water off to prevent unpleasant surprises, unless your wife can’t turn it back on. I generally also use timers, but in addition to lights I put a radio on a timer tuned to a talk station. So the crooks hear voices, not just music. Probably doesn’t help, but it doesn’t hurt.
I’d leave the AC on, but at a higher temperature like 78 to 80 just to control humidity, but I’m not sure that would be an issue or not for you.
I note that you won’t be turning off the water heater, so you won’t be shutting off the water to the house but at least shut off the water at the washing machine and possibly at toilets and sinks. Your wife can turn those on and off again when she leaves if she needs them.
Give a second thought to holding mail & newspaper. Not everyone who works for USPS and newspaper distributors is honest. Since you’re having a neighbor come anyway, they can bring it in (we pay the teenager next door to do it).
I agree with this but you should to a trial run a week or so ahead of time. A calcified valve might not leak–until the first time you turn it off after a few years. Then you have to turn the water main off and replace the valve. I went through this when I replaced a couple of faucets in a bathroom. You don’t want to do that when you are on the way out the door to catch a plane.
It might not be a bad idea to work under the assumption that a break in will occur and prepare the house just in case. Make sure computers are backed up. Hide any extra laptops. Secure sensitive documents. Hide the keys to that left behind car. Inventory and photograph items worth more than a couple hundred bucks. Lock bicycles, snowblowers, mowers, compressors, etc, even if to each other.
I’ve heard but never taken advice to leave some cash (like a $20 bill) in a conspicuous spot near your primary entry door. Take a quick glance when you arrive home. If the cash is gone, someone has been in the house…or maybe still is!
If your thinking is that a supply hose might fail, the washing machine (and hose) were installed a year ago when we moved in, and three of the four toilets are new, as are their hoses. So I don’t think that’s worth the effort. (Or did you have some other concern?)
If my wife weren’t coming back, I might turn off the main water valve (also new since we refinished the basement in December), just for the heck of it, but I don’t want to trouble her with even that.
Instead of turning the water totally off, just close the main valve down own a bit. This will lessen the water pressure in the house and reduce the chance of a leak. This also means that the faucets and showers will not be as strong, so let your wife know. Turn the temperature down on the water heater so it’s still warm enough for showers.
Don’t turn the AC totally off. High humidity can cause mold problems.
Have something in place to have the lawn mowed while you’re gone.
Empty the fridge. Fill the freezer with water bottles. This way if the power goes out, the stuff in the fridge won’t rot and the frozen bottles in the freezer will help keep things frozen. Empty your ice maker and turn it off. If the power goes out, you don’t want the ice to melt all over everything.
Actually lock your garage door with the locking handle and disengage the quick release on the garage door opener.
I think the major points are well-covered. My wife and I have left for several times on trips of 4 to 6 weeks and I’ll offer a couple comments.
If there’s any way that you can have a friend or relative come over and spend a couple evenings a week, consider it. We have our nephew, who is a student a nearby college, come over about twice a week when we’re gone. He watches TV, plays video games, and even has some (close and trusted) friends join him. We offer to buy pizza, but he usually turns us down. He also adjusts drapes and deliberately leaves a couple lights on/off when he leaves.
Have somebody keep an eye on your doors and watch for door hangers, packages, etc. It’s surprising how often stuff gets hung on a doorknob or propped at a door when you’re gone. That’s as bad as leaving the papers in the driveway.
We have never had our washing machine hoses burst, but a friend did. We HAVE had a closet supply start leaking ($32K of damage). Remember, don’t turn off the water if you’re not going to turn off the water heater.
Seconds on having someone get your mail and papers rather than having them stopped.
Having someone move your car is even better than having it in or out of the garage. Our nephew also does this when he’s here. Sometimes it’s in the carport, and sometimes it’s not.
In addition to backing up your computers, securing valuables, etc., make a video walk-through of the house. Be sure any inventory is up-to-date. Include a current newspaper in the video, too. If the worst DOES happen, you will be making an insurance claim.
Your alarm system is a big plus. remember that you can usually add a temporary combination for someone while you’re OOT. Double-check that your call-list is up to date if it is monitored at a Central Station.
If you have wifi and internet at the house, you can get one of those Wyze cameras for $25 on Amazon and periodically look in on things via the camera and the app.
No, that’s not how pressure works. The static water pressure in the pipe will be as high as it always is. Only the residual pressure when water is flowing will drop. So closing the valve down a bit won’t reduce the chance of a leak, only reduce the flow a bit if a leak does happen. Which won’t matter much if the leak goes on for hours or days. It also won’t do much if your main valve is a gate valve or ball valve and not a globe valve. And most shut off valves are not globe valves. Gate valves and globe valves are not the same, the former is for on/off, the latter is for throttling flow.
I agree with the others Atlanta in July you don’t want to turn the AC off for a month. 78 is probably good. Put the car in the garage because it is probably more obvious if it doesn’t move for a month. Stop the mail… your mail carrier has better things to do than moonlight as a thief and they probably don’t know how long it is being held since it just never makes it to their cart. I have no reason to think the water is going to start leaking this month than any other when this has never happened so I wouldn’t bother with that.
In my case the most important thing I would do is to tell the neighbors on both sides and give them each keys for emergencies. I’d also hire the teen girl next door to mow my yard when she mows theirs.
And, since this is 2019 as long as I have internet access I can turn lights on and off, turn the TV on and turn the volume up if needed, turn the AC down before your wife gets home, and answer the doorbell if someone comes by. I don’t have any cameras other than the doorbell but could have a few delivered and set up in a couple of days.
Sounds like a great excuse to upgrade your house to a smart house. Or maybe that is just me since now I’m thinking I should get some cameras for our next vacation… how can my wife refuse.
We left for six weeks last year. Here is what we did:
Turn off the water. I’ve had two water heaters fail on me. If one does, it won’t be great in any case, but far better if the water doesn’t keep rushing in. We do this for any long trip, and it isn’t all that hard to turn on again.
I finally got a yard service for my lawn, since overgrown lawns are a dead giveaway.
I’ve never had problems stopping the paper, so we did that.
A young lady who worked for a neighbor as a nanny walked a dog past our house any day anyhow, so we paid her to come in on weekdays and collect mail from our interior box. Stop the mail if you have a box where it can accumulate. It turns out she chose to stay at our kitchen table for a while each day to study, which made the house look lived in.
Our neighbor kept an eye out, as we watch his house when he goes away.
We do have two timers to put lights on. Unless you have something really valuable, I doubt any crooks would know that the lights in the front are never on.
Our police department is understaffed, so no way anyone was going to do a driveby.
I’d consider getting a house-sitter - in fact, that’s what I did a few months ago when I had to leave my house for about 3 weeks. It worked well for me because I had a great candidate - a 22-year-old woman who lives at home and appreciated the chance to have privacy with her boyfriend, as well as a well-stocked kitchen she could use without sharing. I paid her something like $300 and told her to help herself to any food (she did; I was amused to find my giant Costco peanut butter jars well ravaged).
You may not know anyone you trust who will do it so cheaply, but I recommend thinking about it. It’s win-win if you find someone; you get peace of mind and the housesitter gets a “staycation” of sorts.
