Oh, that is a good one. Unplug all chargers and other devices and appliances that do not need to be running. For example, if you have an electric toothbrush, or cell phone charger. Probably a good idea to unplug all the major electronics as well (TV, computers, entertainment systems) - who knows what a power outage/surge may occur while you are away.
And to add another water appliance with a flexible hose: the dishwasher. The reason I am sensitive to the water thing is we had a house flood about 10 years ago from the failure of one of those hoses at the downstairs toilet. Fortunately, we were home at the time, but it occurred over night and we still ended up with 1+ inches of water all thru the lower level - ruined carpets and hardwood, plus a number of inconveniences and costs. Imagine if no one was home! So shutting off at the water main/meter is the surest way to mitigate the risk of a water catastrophe.
To those advocating various security measures, I would just add that it’s not just break-ins that you’re worried about. There have been many instances of squatters occupying the houses of people who are gone for a while. (In some cases, the occupants are themselves victims of scammers who rent or sell unoccupied houses pretending to be the owners.) What happens when the real owners come back can be an extended legal fight, with the squatters maintaining possession until the courts finally evict them after many months or years.
Back to the garage door for just a minute. There should be a hole in the track where you can install a padlock or even just a bolt or something to keep the door from being raised.
For things that you will be remote monitoring you might consider smart plugs which can be turned off and on, thereby resetting the device plugged into them. Most can be programed to do so automatically if needed (say off at 3:00 AM, on at 3:01 am everyday, or once a week), useful if a device gets flakey. I have one on my router too, though in practice it won’t work if the router needs a reset, though if I get a neighbor to reset it I can program a daily reset. I have considered 2 routers to allow remote resetting by one of the other, but never got that far.
I was wondering about that. When the OP mentioned she had cameras, my first thought was that if they, or any network gear, go out, she’s going to be out of luck and that it may be worth having the house sitter reboot everything each time. Or even, showing him/her where everything is so they can do it when they stop over, if it needs to be done.
However, putting a timer on the router and modem to turn it off and on once a day probably isn’t a bad idea, but I’d test it out to make sure everything reconnects nicely.
I recall seeing that as a workaround for the old blue Linksys routers back in the day (late 90’s, early 2000’s). It was cheaper put them on a timer than to buy a new one and would buy you another year or so.
