How to Winterize Your Vacant Home While You’re Away

Winterizing is important for all homeowners in cold climates, but it’s especially crucial for anyone who will be leaving their property vacant during the winter months. In fact, winterizing can mean the difference between returning to a home in one piece and discovering a disaster.

Most people are quick to turn off the water supply and clean out the fridge before they go. You may even know to get your roof and chimney inspected. But we bet there are a few things you forget to do. It’s OK – it happens to everyone. Here are four often-overlooked ways to winterize your home.

1. Turn off the water supply

If you’re leaving your house for more than a few days, the number one thing you should do is shut off your water supply. Freezing and fluctuating temperatures in winter put a lot of stress on your pipes, which could cause them to crack or burst. When you’re out of town all winter, that could do significant damage to your home.

To shut off the water supply, locate the main shut-off valve — typically found in the basement or outside of the house. If you’re connected to a municipal water supply, this is usually on the side closest to the street. If you have a well, simply go to your electrical panel and shut off the breaker to your well pump.

Don’t forget to drain the waterlines

After you’ve shut off your water supply, you’ll still need to clear all the water that’s still sitting in your pipes. Open up all the faucets in your home until they run at a slow drip and flush all the toilets. You may also want to consider draining your water heater.

2. Winterize your windows

Your windows are an entry point for the cold air that not many people consider. To prepare your home and your electricity bill you should take preventative measures to make sure your windows are properly winterized. Ways to do this include caulking around the edges of the window and adding more insulation where the glass meets the walls.

If you want to take it one step further, add a sealed layer of plastic over the glass to create a perfect insulation bubble. This may sound complicated but there are plenty of at-home kits you can purchase. 

3. Turn down the heat

There’s some debate about whether you should turn off the heat entirely or keep it on at a low hum when you leave for vacation. Even though you’ll be shutting off the water supply and draining all of the pipes before you leave, we think it’s a good idea to keep the thermostat on when you leave.

“I recommend a thermostat setting of 50 °F for houses left for long periods,” says Norman Becker of Popular Mechanics. “This conserves energy while providing a comfortable margin of safety against frozen plumbing. It’s also high enough, in most cases, to prevent condensation from forming and doing damage to furnishings and appliances inside the house.”

4. Get rid of dead tree limbs

Dead tree limbs can snap off in a storm and cause all manner of trouble while you’re gone. They could crash through a window if the tree is close enough to the house, or fall on a car parked in the driveway. A tree at the edge of your property line might shed a branch and do damage to the windshield of a car parked on the street. A falling branch could also damage gutters and siding.

Any limbs that dangle onto your roof could become a highway for critters seeking to shelter in your eaves. Consider trimming them back before you leave for the season.

Rogue branches are a potentially big problem, but it’s easy to forget about tending to your yard when you’re packing. After all, you’re consumed with details like de-thawing your freezers and replacing the windows. Before you go away for the winter, get your trees and large bushes trimmed by a professional.

5. Unplug appliances

Before you leave, go around the house and unplug all electrical appliances. Yes, all — including bigger items like the TV, microwave, and refrigerator (just make sure it’s completely emptied first). This will save you a little money on your electric bill — a refrigerator costs about $5 per month to run — but more importantly, it will prevent fires. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, home appliances cause about 9,600 residential fires in America each year.

Here are some appliances you should unplug before you leave for the winter:

• Washer
• Dryer
• Refrigerator
• Modem and Wi-Fi router
• TV
• Microwave
• Small appliances

6. Fill your toilet with antifreeze

Turning off the main water supply to your home is a good start to protecting your plumbing and winterizing your pipes: if the water says on, dangerous freezing could lead to a pipe explosion. You may even go so far as to have a plumber blow compressed air through the pipes.

Most people don’t realize the water that remains in the tank and bowl could still cause a problem. Any water left in the toilet can freeze and unfreeze, ultimately creating cracks in the porcelain. Pour antifreeze (note: make sure it’s rated for plumbing) into the toilet before you go away.

7. Test and upgrade your smoke detectors

You’re so worried about the cold damaging your home that you may forget to ward off heat. Would your neighbors notice a fire in time to save your property? It’s impossible to know. Test your smoke detectors before you vacate the property.

Smart smoke detectors will operate on Wi-Fi and send you a remote alert if they go off. You’ll be notified on your smartphone or tablet if the smoke detector goes off, and you can ask a neighbor to check on the house, or, in a more serious situation, call local authorities.

The bottom line

When the winters get to be just a little too much to handle, having the luxury to head south and enjoy the sun while the snow falls down on your house back home can be a nice reprieve. But you don’t want to return to find a broken pipe, fallen tree limbs, or an unexpected fire. By following simple but often overlooked winter home tips like the ones above, you can avoid all that. When in doubt, hire someone to check on your property a few times while you’re gone to make sure problems are dealt with in a timely fashion (and give you some peace of mind).