Keeping the "Sticks and Bricks" safe while away

[NXR]

Originally Posted by scooterbob

ADT alarm, shut off and drain water, Good neighbors, and son checks house several times a week.

So you do open upstairs faucets to allow air in and then open the lower ones to drain the pipes? And you also drain the water heater?

I am still on the fence about the water heater and draining the pipes since they would now be wet with air in them. I'd prefer that the critters drown.

Ray

[MSHappyCampers]

We have a very sophisticated security system including protection of all doors and windows, glassbreak sensors in each room, motion detectors, smoke detectors, and outside cameras all around the outside.

We set the HVAC for 80 degrees cooling and 60 degrees heating. We turn off the water heater and all water to the house.

We have good neighbors who keep an eye on the house, and our son goes by about three times a week to check on everything.

[saddlesore]

Sold the S & B. became fulltime RV'rs..

[NXR]

Do people normally carry "unoccupied home" insurance? I just started reading about it and it seems it may be needed if the home is vacant for thirty to sixty days, depending on the company.

If you do, would you consider sharing the annual cost?

Thanks,

Ray

[Excesses]

Originally Posted by Aries2RV

Have a question for all of you “near full-timers”.

I have read that some of you make frequent trips ranging from 2 weeks to up to 3 months (or more) at a time. So it got me wondering, what do you do to protect the “sticks and bricks” while you’re gone?

We have several folks who come in. Our neighbors next door, our daughter as she drives by to and from work and a friend who lives in the area. We have a giant desktop calendar made up and they all sign in as they come by. They flush the toilets and water the few plants that we haven’t adopted out too. That way we can show the insurance company that the house was being looked after. We also notify a couple other neighbors and let them know that we’re not moving anything out or selling anything while we’re away. They all get thank you gifts that we find on our travels.

Also, we installed a keyless entry system and gave each person a code, which is actually the last 4 digits of their phones. Easy to remember.

We have 2 motion activated internet cameras. One outside on the shop and it records activity around the back door. The other is inside and is pointed at the front door. The camera system sends us an alert every time there is activity. We check our alerts on our phone regularly. Even from Mexico.

We just bought a “fake tv”. It uses ~ 4 watts of power using led lights to simulate a tv being used. It can be programmed and we use the dusk plus 8 hours setting.

We also use 2 internet friendly wall plug ins. We plug in a lamp in 2 rooms and they come on and turn off as per our programming. Very simple to use, and we can turn the lamps on and off remotely or even program them remotely so as not to have them going on and off with regularity. A sure giveaway.

So, that’s what we’ve done. No problems.

Cheers

DJ

[NXR]

Originally Posted by NXR

Do people normally carry "unoccupied home" insurance? I just started reading about it and it seems it may be needed if the home is vacant for thirty to sixty days, depending on the company.

Our insurance agent got back to us today. I gave them the list of precautions we're taking and:

I checked with Westfield. They advised that as long as this is your primary residence (meaning you are there more months then you are in the RV) and you take the proper steps to keep your home from damage (keep the heat on so nothing freezes, keep the outside water lines open and the water shut off, etc.) and have someone check on the home so that if a claim does occur it is caught quickly then you would have coverage while you were away.

Westfield also provides our motorhome insurance so maybe that is a factor; I don't know.

Ray

[Teamfoxy]

Since our S&B is in FL, our procedure is different than others.
We turn off the water heater and any appliaces that could be damaged by a surge. We leave the A.C. set at 85. The water gets turned off at the street and we put up the steel hurricane shutters.
We do not ask our neibors to check inside, but they all have our phone number and our yard guy is there every week to mow the lawn. Sixteen years with no problems.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by Teamfoxy

Since our S&B is in FL, our procedure is different than others.
We turn off the water heater and any appliaces that could be damaged by a surge. We leave the A.C. set at 85. The water gets turned off at the street and we put up the steel hurricane shutters.
We do not ask our neibors to check inside, but they all have our phone number and our yard guy is there every week to mow the lawn. Sixteen years with no problems.

Exact system I use except I don't turn off that water. Son-in law (yard guy) comes in to use bathroom and keeps water in the p-traps. We are gone 4 months at a time.

[lwmcguire]

Neighbor that sells home owner insurance says the vacant house deal is getting more attention due to the increasing losses

Couple of his companies are very picky about absentee owners

Check your policy as they check your utility bills to verify residency in case of a claim

[NXR]

Originally Posted by cavie

Exact system I use except I don't turn off that water. Son-in law (yard guy) comes in to use bathroom and keeps water in the p-traps. We are gone 4 months at a time.

We came back from dinner one night and I heard water running. I opened the door to the basement and it was raining down there. The seven year-old hose that came with the clothes washer had developed a pinhole leak at the hose bend and was squirting a stream of water ten feet.

We were only gone a few hours but it still was a mess. So now I use metal-braided hoses to the washer, change them every five years and turn the water off at the meter whenever we're gone overnight.

That saved us one summer when we were gone for vacation. My sister called and said a water hammer from hydrant flushing on our street had ruptured water meters all over our street and there were a lot of flooding homes. She checked and we had no damage but the surrounding neighbors did.

Ray

[jacwjames]

To start with we did not shut off the water to the house. We went to visit my wife's dad at Christmas and were gone ~3-4 days. It got really cold(I mean subzero in TN) during that time and when we got back home we had water actually running down the driveway frozen like a river. The water line inside the house basement next to an exterior wall froze and burst. Luckily the water ran out the garage instead of inside so no damage. Since then we turn off the water as we are leaving.


I just built a new house and put in a shutoff manifold system so I can isolate each room/area water runs to. I even put in a separate manifold upstairs & master bedroom bathrooms, and exterior faucets so I can isolate any line there. By doing this I can turn off the water to do maintenance etc. Today I will be installing a new vanity in the basement bathroom so I can isolate just that line without shutting off the whole house. In the future I can winterize portions of the house and leave the rest active. This was kind of overkill but I think in the long run worth it. Building inspector said he never saw anything like this.

[MrsChilerick]

On shutting off the water to the house. We always turn it off when leaving even just over night. Our lesson with this was a friends misfortune. They left for the day and came back to water pouring from the garage, 4” of water on the floor inside and the ceiling falling in the downstairs. A water supply line to the upstairs bathroom sink had started to leak. The repairs took months.

Ever since then we turn water off to the house and we even turn water off to the coach when we leave it for most of the day.

Keeping the p traps filled is pretty easy. Run water then plug the sink and cover with a plastic bag filled with water. Put distilled water in the dishwasher and seal the toilets with plastic wrap.

I have to say I was unaware of the insurance issues, I’m going to have to research ours.

[Eastham]

Originally Posted by Excesses

We have several folks who come in. Our neighbors next door, our daughter as she drives by to and from work and a friend who lives in the area. We have a giant desktop calendar made up and they all sign in as they come by. They flush the toilets and water the few plants that we haven’t adopted out too. That way we can show the insurance company that the house was being looked after. We also notify a couple other neighbors and let them know that we’re not moving anything out or selling anything while we’re away. They all get thank you gifts that we find on our travels.



Also, we installed a keyless entry system and gave each person a code, which is actually the last 4 digits of their phones. Easy to remember.



We have 2 motion activated internet cameras. One outside on the shop and it records activity around the back door. The other is inside and is pointed at the front door. The camera system sends us an alert every time there is activity. We check our alerts on our phone regularly. Even from Mexico.



We just bought a “fake tv”. It uses ~ 4 watts of power using led lights to simulate a tv being used. It can be programmed and we use the dusk plus 8 hours setting.



We also use 2 internet friendly wall plug ins. We plug in a lamp in 2 rooms and they come on and turn off as per our programming. Very simple to use, and we can turn the lamps on and off remotely or even program them remotely so as not to have them going on and off with regularity. A sure giveaway.



So, that’s what we’ve done. No problems.



Cheers

Why would you go on a forum and tell everyone the code into open your door is the last 4 of there phone number. Neighbors daughter .with all the information available online it would not be to hard for a thief to figure it out..entirely to much information being given out

[Peto]

Do you know who his neighbor is? Or their daughter?

Chill.