The Off-Season Prep Every Second Home Needs Before It Sits Empty

Ever locked up a shore house in October and just... hoped for the best?

That's the way most second homes get winterized. Quick sweep. Turn the key. Eight months of neglect. Everything runs smoothly for decades. One January morning, a neighbour phones you about water spurting from under the garage door.

Vacant properties fail differently. No one hears the drip, smells the smoldering dust, or observes the thermostat set at 41 degrees. Minor issues have months to escalate into very costly problems.

The good news?

Off-season preparation is tedious, inexpensive labor that can be done in one weekend. Here is what that weekend entails...

What's covered below:

Why Empty Houses Break Faster

Deal With The Heating System First

Shutting The Water Down Properly

Sealing Up The Building

Who Is Checking On The Place?

Why Empty Houses Break Faster

An occupied house has a full-time alarm system living inside it. People.

Someone sees the radiator that never heats up. Someone hears the click-click-click at 2am. In a second home, each of those alarms turns off when you lock the door.

That's why the same failure costs so much more at vacation property. A burst supply line at an occupied house means towels and a wet-vac. The same burst line at an empty house runs for weeks.

And that's far from an isolated incident. Water damage and freezing account for the second-largest portion of homeowners insurance claims nationally, with the average claim topping $15,400.

Deal With The Heating System First

Before anything else gets touched, run the heat.

Turn the thermostat up and allow the system to run for twenty minutes while sitting by it and listening. A good furnace should only make one noise: a hum. If you hear anything else, it's trying to tell you something.

A furnace making strange noises in October is a furnace that quits in January. And a dead furnace in an empty house isn't a comfort problem... it's a frozen pipe problem waiting to happen.

Thus if the house is close to the Jersey Shore and the unit is making odd sounds, a technician who handles furnace repair in Manasquan, NJ is worth booking prior to the house closing up, because an odd sounding furnace is a lot easier (and cheaper) to diagnose in the fall rather than find out in February after your pipes have already burst. Ask them to perform a full service while they are there -- burner cleaned, filter changed, heat exchanger inspected, flue scanned for blockage.

Here is what those noises usually mean:

Banging or booming on start-up -- delayed ignition caused by dirty burners

Squealing or screeching -- a worn blower belt or failing motor bearings

Rattling panels and ductwork -- loose screws, or something coming apart inside

Clicking that doesn't ignite -- ignitor/flame sensor going out

A low rumble after shut-off -- a burner that is not closing properly

None of that fixes itself over winter. It gets louder, then it goes silent.

Time of day also plays a factor. Almost 46% of home heating fires occur during December, January and February. That's right when no one is sleeping with one eye open waiting for smoke alarm to go off.

Two things worth adding to that same visit:

Fully charged batteries in all smoke and CO detectors. Plus a smart thermostat that can send an alert if the temperature drops too low, so an HVAC breakdown means a text message rather than a shock in the spring.

Shutting The Water Down Properly

Water is the thing that actually destroys empty houses.

The safest way to winterize a vacant home (one that will not be occupied at all) is to completely drain the system. Shut off the main valve, then open all of the faucets throughout the house -- upstairs and downstairs, inside and outside -- and leave them open until the water runs out. Be sure to flush each toilet to drain the tank.

Then get rid of whatever is left sitting in the system:

Drain your water heater. Or put on vacation mode if it doesn't shut off.

Disconnect garden hoses and shut off the exterior spigots

Blow out irrigation lines with a compressor

Pour RV antifreeze into toilet bowls, sink traps and shower traps

Empty the washing machine hoses and the icemaker supply line

The number one error people make is bypassing the traps. After months of drying out over winter, there's no aroma anyone wants to greet their family with in May.

OK, what about if the place only gets used a couple weekends during the winter? Draining everything would be impractical. If that's the case just leave the heat set to at least 55 degrees, open the cabinet doors under every sink allowing warm air to hit the pipes, and place inexpensive water sensors near the heater, washer and any plumbing that runs through an exterior wall.

Sealing Up The Building

Wind. Water. Wildlife. They all look for ways to come inside during the winter. If you have an empty house, they have months to find a way in.

Start outside and work around the property:

Clear gutters and downspouts so melting snow drains away from the foundation

Check the roof for lifted, cracked or missing shingles

Seal gaps around vents, dryer exhausts and cable entry points

Trim back branches that hang over the roofline

Close and latch storm shutters, then lock every window

Then strip the property of contents. Throw away any food including those pantry items no one sees. Unplug electronics and small appliances. Defrost the refrigerator. Turn it off and leave doors open to prevent mould from growing.

Humidity is the silent killer. A home sealed up for six months with ZERO circulation gets mildew on furniture, drapes and mattresses. A low setting on a dehumidifier takes care of most of it.

Who Is Checking On The Place?

Even perfect prep needs a person.

Sensors and cameras are great at alerting someone there is a pipe burst. They are ineffective at shutting off the water.

Have a neighbour, caretaker or property manager walk-through once a month and provide them with a short list to reference: check ceilings for stains, look under every sink, make sure thermostat is set properly, stand next to heating system while it's on.

One more piece of admin.

Tell your insurer it will be vacant. Vacancy provisions trip up a lot of owners, and a quick phone call now is a lot easier than fighting over a claim later. Keep the service receipts too. Proof that the system was serviced prior to start up goes a long way.