Winterize Your Vacant Home – 8 Tip Checklist
1. Inspect the roof
First, examine the roof. Ice forming from freezing temperatures can squeeze under shingles, causing leaking and water damage. Before you leave your home, use a ladder and inspect the roof for risen shingles so they can be repaired. You can use binoculars to examine this area if you don’t have a ladder.
2. Clean the Gutters
Before leaving your vacation home, remove debris and leaves from all the pipes and gutters. If left, snow and rain can freeze and cause overflow, damaging the gutters and possibly prying them away from the roof. Packing away your vacation home can be challenging, but with the proper steps, you can secure your home. Following a vacant home winterization checklist, your home can welcome you back in tip-top shape when the season rolls around again.
3. Trim Trees
While you walk around the house and check on the gutters and roof, take note of trees close to the house. Trim back branches that, if they fall, will hit the house roof and windows.
4. Insulate the Attic
The roof looks good, and the gutters are clean. Now, you need to think about preventing ice dams. Attic heat seeps out, melting ice on the roof. Even though your shingles are in good shape, the freeze and thaw push water under the shingles. That turns into damaging leaks. Insulate your attic. It prevents heat leaks and protects you against winter water damage.
5. Insulate Windows and Doors
- Double-check that the window and door caulking are in good shape. Fix where needed.
- Consider putting plastic over windows.
- Remove screens and replace them with storm windows.
6. Winterize your Vacant Home Pipes – Keep Pipes from Freezing
Nothing is worse than flood damage caused by a burst pipe.
Drain all outside pipes. Consider shutting off the house’s water supply and draining all the water lines. The less water in the system leaves less water to free and burst pipes. Turn off the water heater. This is necessary when the water has been drained from the house.
What do you do without draining the water and shutting off the water supply? Insulate your pipes both inside and outside. Your local hardware store, like Lowes, has lots of pipe insulation products. Wrap your pipes with foam insulation, then tape it up to hold it in place. Make sure to check all crawl spaces for exposed piping. Insulated inside pipes that are on outside walls. Keep the heating system set to a moderate temperature. Both the bit of heat and the pipe insulation will protect your pipes from freezing and bursting.
7. Winterize your Vacant House Heating System
Make sure before you leave to get a heating system check-up. Your home will be empty for many months. No one will be around if the heating system fails. The check-up ensures your system is clean and working, letting you lock up and leave knowing the temperature will not drop to home-damaging temperatures.
8. Keep Pests at Bay
Make your home unattractive to pests. Cleaning the kitchen before you leave any crumbs or leftover food is a great way to discourage rodents and other critters from entering the space as you’re away. Turn off the water supply and leave all the faucets, including the ones in the kitchen, open to ensure no water pipes are frozen while you’re gone.
- Drain cleaning can prevent bacteria from forming, which can produce foul odors.
- Defrost and empty freezers and refrigerators. Clean them both inside and out. Keep their doors ajar to prevent mold and mildew.
- Clean the oven and stove and unplug all appliances, including the freezer, refrigerator, oven, and stove.
- Have your chimney checked and cleaned out of debris and bird nests. Consider installing a chimney guard screen cap.