Away Safely

Ah, the holidays. A time to enjoy friends and family, a time to exchange yummy gifts and greetings, a time to take some time off and escape things for a while. Many of you will be doing these things in the coming weeks. Plane tickets have been purchased and a perfect vacation in some far off destination awaits.

But will you return to a perfect house when it all done? Nothing can ruin a vacation like coming home to a house that had been ransacked, suffered flooding due to a burst water hose, or become infested with insects.To make your trip as perfect as possible, here are some tips to insure your house is as good when you return as it was when you left. I’ll break the list up into three sections: before, during, and returned so as to help you keep track of things.

Before you go:
1. Give a copy of your itinery and contact information to a trusted neighbor. If something does happen to your house they'll learn about it right away and contact you.

2. Find someone trustworthy to walk through or at least around your house every other day or so, just to check on things. They can also remove any packages, flyers or newspapers that get left in your yard. Rotting newspaper are (usually) a sign no one is home.

3. Set lights/tv on timers to make it look like someone is home. Many new televisions have a built-in timer feature which makes this step a snap.

4. Turn off/unplug appliances that won’t be used. Computers, tv’s, washers/driers, etc... all draw power even when turned off. Why spend the money when you won’t be there? This also protects the appliances from any power surges due to lightening. Don’t forget to check the garage for things to unplug. Note: DO NOT unplug freezers, fridges, or the garage door opener.

5. Either have someone collect your mail or contact the post office to have it helld while you are gone. You can ask the post office to hold your mail via the internet at https://holdmail.usps.com/duns/HoldMail.jsp

6. Turn off the water to your washing machine, fridge, and dishwasher. The water lines on these appliances have an annoying tendency to burst while no one is home.

7. Empty the fridge of any easily perishable food. Condiments can stay, but it’s best to pass the rest on to your neighbors. They’ll like that and you won’t have to worry about scary fuzzies growing in there. Besides, you’d rather go out to eat the first day back, right?

8. Either unplug your answering machine or learn how to use the remote playback feature. NEVER leave an answering messgae telling people you are on vacation!

9. Unplug the automatic coffee maker. Trust me on this one.

10. Call the Harris County Precinct 4 at 281-353-8100 to let them know you’ll be gone and request they keep an eye on your house. A deputy will drive by once a day. It’s also a good idea to give the cops your contact information and the name of the person who will be checking your house.

11. If you have a monitered house alarm let them know you’ll be gone but someone will be checking the house. Make sure your housewatcher knows how to work your alarm. You should be able to program in a “guest code” so you don’t have to give full access of your alarm system to your housewatcher.

12. If travelling internationally you should contact your credit card companies and let them know you may be using the cards outside the USA. Otherwise if they see a charge both overseas and at home on the same day they may put a block on your card. This can easily happen if you have some automatic billing set up to charge your card monthly (for instance, internet or cable services).

13. Just before leaving run water down all your sinks and shower/tube drains for a minuute. This will put a water-block in drain trap, preventing bugs or other nasties from crawling up the sewer lines into your house.

14. Turn the water off to the hotwater heater. They only leak when no one is there to see it.

15. Pay any large bills in advance if they will come due while you are away. The grace period for a missed payment is very short nowdays and you could be hit with a large fee for late payment.

While you are gone:
1. Have a neighbor take your garbage can up/down. A house with no garbage during the holidays has a big “No One Home!” sign in front of it.

2. Let neighbors park their cars in your driveway to give a more “someone’s home” appearance.

3. Have a neighbor water your lawn if needed. A really good neighbor will even mow it...

4. Buy a thank-you gift for your housewatcher. :-)

5. If you normally leave cars in your driveway have a neighbor move them around occasionally. This will help give the illusion that someone is home and it’s also good for the cars (depending on how your neighbor drives).

When you get back:
1. Walk through the house and yard to make sure everything is as you left it.

2. Plug everything back in.

3. Contact the police and housewatcher to let them know you are home.

4. Run the water in your sinks and other faucets/showers/bath for five minutes or so. While the water was sitting still in your pipes it was leeching chemicals from the plumbing and bacteria was growing. Flushing your water lines by letting all the taps run will get rid of this stagnant water.

5. Go out for some food and delay the return to reality for a few more hours.

Happy (and safe) holidays everyone!

In older neighborhoods, leave all the toilet lids down. Older neighborhoods often have old-fashioned clay sewer lines that get broken or separated. Rats and snakes have been known to go up the toilet line, through the trap (even with water, but why?) and into the toilet. Keeping the lids down encourages them to go back the way they came.