3 months away without a house sitter (3 Viewers)

[optimus-prime]

Hi funsters! We're about to start travelling for a longer period of time, and we don't plan to have a house sitter. We'll have security cameras, inside and outside, and we would be able to ask someone to go and check/do something, if really needed.
We'll do the following:

• shut off the water (except for the garden pipes)
• shut off most of the electrical circuits
• drain the dishwasher and the washing machine
• insert the sink plugs (hope this is the right term) to avoid evaporation from the drain
• set the forced ventilation to the lowest level
• set the heating to 15 degrees (I'm thinking to not set it lower because the heating system is pretty slow, and when we get back I don't want to sleep in the MH, for two days )

Am I being crazy for not planning someone to do any maintenance on the house? What do funsters do when leaving for longer periods of time? Did I miss anything obvious?

 

[Bobby-gg]

We did basically exactly the same, we let the neighbours know and give them contact numbers for both us and the daughters, and we had someone drop in once a week to check over the place and open the mail etc.

Oh, and also had a gardener to mow the lawn every 2 weeks

 

[VXman]

Hi funsters! We're about to start travelling for a longer period of time, and we don't plan to have a house sitter. We'll have security cameras, inside and outside, and we would be able to ask someone to go and check/do something, if really needed.
We'll do the following:

• shut off the water (except for the garden pipes)
• shut off most of the electrical circuits
• drain the dishwasher and the washing machine
• insert the sink plugs (hope this is the right term) to avoid evaporation from the drain
• set the forced ventilation to the lowest level
• set the heating to 15 degrees (I'm thinking to not set it lower because the heating system is pretty slow, and when we get back I don't want to sleep in the MH, for two days )

Am I being crazy for not planning someone to do any maintenance on the house? What do funsters do when leaving for longer periods of time? Did I miss anything obvious?

I do some of the stuff above but not all. Personally i think you are overthinking it. Basically lock the door and go is my prep. I don't have an alarm, cameras or ring door bell. I think that would give me more stress. Not been a problem for 30 years so far.

Just make sure you are insured!

 

[Richard n Ann]

Our next door neighbours water the garden plants, so I couldn't turn the water off. The house just gets left, a few cobwebs hit your face when you return.. And the toilet water has usually gone off but never had any problems

 

[optimus-prime]

I agree with you. I'm not really worried about thieves, the cameras were already there... so would use them to keep an eye on the surroundings because quite often we get very stormy weather here. My only concern was about the water, because we never lived in a house before, and when we moved in someone told me I should drain the pipes.... which sounds a bit exaggerated... that's why I thought asking around here. We've been away for 3 months+ before when living in an apartment, and never had any issues. Nevertheless, here at the house the climate is quite dry during the winter and the water evaporates from the drains after just two weeks, and then it starts smelling not that pleasant , hence the sink plugs (I hope they work).

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[optimus-prime]

And the toilet water has usually gone off but never had any problems

hmmm... after how long... I was worried about the sinks, but never thought about the toilet....

 

[Richard n Ann]

hmmm... after how long... I was worried about the sinks, but never thought about the toilet....

10 weeks. When I say gone off I just mean it's gone rotton with a bacteria tide mark round it. Bleach sorts it, I'd put some in before leaving but always forget

 

[Steve and Denise]

Feed the cat

 

[MichaelT]

We have some lights that come on at set time plus others that randomly turn on and off after dusk.

Check what your insurance says you have to do.

 

[Jim]

Make sure everything is insured and forget about it

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[berni109]

Just make sure you are insured!

Not sure if rules are the same there but my insurance required someone to visit house weekly to check ok and remove visible post.

We were away for 6 months at a time and just turned the water off over winter.
12°heating on constant which was also an insurance requirement.

 

[peterc10]

Hi funsters! We're about to start travelling for a longer period of time, and we don't plan to have a house sitter. We'll have security cameras, inside and outside, and we would be able to ask someone to go and check/do something, if really needed.
We'll do the following:

• shut off the water (except for the garden pipes)
• shut off most of the electrical circuits
• drain the dishwasher and the washing machine
• insert the sink plugs (hope this is the right term) to avoid evaporation from the drain
• set the forced ventilation to the lowest level
• set the heating to 15 degrees (I'm thinking to not set it lower because the heating system is pretty slow, and when we get back I don't want to sleep in the MH, for two days )

Am I being crazy for not planning someone to do any maintenance on the house? What do funsters do when leaving for longer periods of time? Did I miss anything obvious?

If you keep your heating on why switch off the water? We keep our heating on at 15 degrees. Our insurer requires that other wise they will not pay our for any water leak damages. And if we didn't we would not only have to drain the domestic water but also the water used for the central heating. So freezing cold house on our return.

We do not switch the electrics off as they are needed for wifi, so the alarm and cameras can work and show us what is happening. And we have our lights coming on and off at different times in the evenings and early warning to make it look that the house is occupied. We can adjust the times using our Hive app via Amazon Alexa.

 

[optimus-prime]

Thanks all! Much appreciated!

 

[The Wino]

What sort of heating have you got and what controls? If it's gas I'd personally set it for about 8 degrees with a short period of say 18 for half an hour twice a day to keep everything aired.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

Make sure everything is insured and forget about it

Sounds fine, but many insurers make stipulations for longer absences. We’re with NFU, who require a named person to visit the house weekly for absences over 60 days, and heating set to 15C between 1 Nov and March, unless the water is turned off.

At one time we were with Lloyds, who demanded that the burglar alarm was set and the electric turned off!

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[Jim]

Sounds fine, but many insurers make stipulations for longer absences.

That's why I said make sure everything insured.