Your house when you were away ..?

[tchan03]

HI I just bought a semi-detached house but wont move in permanently till April (i lived in a condo before)

I just want to ask you what would be a a list of things i need to really keep an eye on .

Things like you know , should i keep the house heat on (even though nobody lives in) , otherwise there could be water pipes problems?!

TC

 

[abdmom]

Where do you live? Not that I want to check out your house, but the things you would need to monitor are going to be different depending on your climate.

 

[tchan03]

near Toronto Canada

 

[HelenePA]

if its cold enough to get below freezing in your house YES keep the heat on!

 

[Judy in Texas]

Leave the heat on but maybe turn it down a bit... low 60's? Are there nights when you are home that you have to leave the water dripping to keep the pipes from freezing? I have to do that several times a year even in Texas to keep the pipes in the kitchen and one of the bathrooms from freezing. Their pipes are on outside walls. As long as all your pipes are on inside walls, no problem.

Make sure the house looks lived in... have a lamp on a timer so it turns on and off... make sure the mail is picked up regularly and no papers are left laying around on the lawn.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Ditto on getting timers on the lamps. I still own my late mother's house and I put wreaths on the doors to make it look like someone lives there.

Make sure to keep an eye on the mailbox. If junk mail starts accumulating that can be a sign that no one is lving there.

TC

 

[abdmom]

I suspected it when you said "semi-detached". I'm in T.O. too and owned a semi for a number of years.

Leave the heat on, make sure it reaches any "cold rooms". Sometimes there is a cold room built under the front steps -leave the door open.

Set timers for the lights.

Check for flyers or misdirected mail in the mailbox frequently. If you have a mail slot, even better.

Make sure the snow is shovelled!! You can be fined by the city if not. Maybe come to some agreement with your neighbour if you share a driveway. If there is a big storm, the snowplow might block in the driveway a day or two after the storm, so check that frequently too.

Check with your insurance provider that they know the house is unoccupied. This might affect your insurance rates.

Depending on when in April you move in, you might need to start cutting grass or raking by the end of April.

Go in to check the interior frequently too. Sewers can get clogged, water pipes can break even if not frozen. If caught quickly, it's not so bad. If left for weeks.....

Make friends with the neighbours and let them know your move in date and give them your phone number.

That's all I can think of for now - Happy homeownership!

 

[barkley]

go ahead and replace any furnace filters now-that way you know for sure they will last until april (home we rented had all the duct work collapse and the heating/air system destroyed a month after we moved in b/c the prior tenant never changed the filter, and we assumed the owner had so we were'nt planning on doing it for another couple of months)-tens of thousands in non insurance covered damage.

we live with snow and one of the hints the police give to people who will be away from home to prevent break in's is to get friendly with a neighbor (and idealy one with a large dog)-have them walk around your house and up and down the driveway/walkway after each new snow-untouched snow is a dead giveaway that noone's home.


if you get any heavy snow check the interior for drywall cracks-our roof collapsed but you could'nt tell from looking at the exterior, and the only indication inside was the ceiling had multiple hairline cracks (all the damage was to the supporting beams inside the roof).

 

[tchan03]

Desite the security reason (not letting strangers know i dont live in house daily ,till April), i am thinking about not hiring anyone to shovel snow on the driveway

I currently live in In-law house which is 15-20 min drive away from my new semi-detached house.
Maybe every weekend or so, i will drop by once
I know in my city (Richmond hill), the city shovels the sidewalk. In term of being legal, i think should be just fine. What would be your advice?

 

[barkley]

never removing snow in the driveway is a huge red flag that the house is'nt lived in. we can tell which houses the 'snow birds' live in around us cuz the driveways are'nt plowed and look pristine.


the other thing that can happen if the city does street or sidewalk removal of snow-you can get a burm built up and if you get a rise in the temp and a freeze what was snow can become hard packed solid ice that is much harder to remove.