With spring break and summer vacations around the corner, a lot of people are going through their lists of what to pack, but do you have a list of how to prepare your home? Going through a quick checklist could save you thousands in repairs and help you better enjoy your time away.
“You don't want to come home to a mess. You've just enjoyed your vacation and you don't want to come home to mold and mildew and ruined drywall because something broke or failed,” said Talbot Watkins, owner and president of Winstar Home Services.
Watkins has seen the disasters that can happen when people leave their homes without taking some precautions.
“First thing I would do is turn off your water to the home,” said Watkins.
You can do that by locating the water main and turning the lever. Or if you need the water on, switch off sink valves not in use.
“Electricity: I would unplug cords from toasters, appliances, even TVs and stuff like that,” said Watkins.
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While unplugging small appliances won’t have a huge impact on your energy bill, it could potentially prevent a fire.
“Power surges happen on and off the electrical grid all the time and some appliances go faulty. If there's no one home and something ignites on fire, nobody's there to call the fire department or put it out, so it's more of a safety thing,” Watkins said.
You should turn off all your lights but you don't want burglars to know you're not around. One easy trick is to get an automatic outlet timer. They cost as little as $10 and they're as simple as plugging in your lamp then plugging it into the wall and setting the timer.
And to keep your home from flooding, make sure the area way in the basement is clean and your sump pump is working properly. It’s advised that homeowners check their sump pump once a month.
Some other tips that'll save you money while you're away is to turn down the water heater or put it on vacation mode and to turn-up the air conditioner. You can set it as high as 80 degrees but Watkins warns not to go above 82 degrees in the summer or the house could get too humid.
Also, if your home is equipped with a security system, notify your security company when you're away so they can better respond to any alerts.
