Winterizing a vacant home

A summer home or beach house (or any property that is vacant) must be winterized and closed for the season. This is to prevent water from entering your home and to prevent burst pipes.  It is best to hire a plumber to winterize your home unless you are very handy and well informed on the process. If winterizing isn’t done properly, you run the risk of severely damaging your home and could end up with frozen pipes, flooding, or a total freeze over (not to mention time lost using your vacation home when the discovery is finally made next spring).

Winterizing your plumbing should include the following steps:

1.  Shut off the main water supply to your home and drain entire system.
2. Open all faucets in the house to drain water. This includes showers, icemakers, water in your refrigerator door, outside sillcocks, and outside showers.
3. Drain radiators and add non-toxic antifreeze to heating system.
4. Disconnect and drain garden hoses.
5. Drain your hot water heater and shut off gas or electric supply to it and add non-toxic antifreeze.
6. Flush all toilets and use a plunger to force the remaining water out, and then use a rag or sponge to remove any water left in the toilet tank. Add non-toxic antifreeze to both tank and bowl.
7. Put non-toxic antifreeze in all your drains.

Any sort of freeze over or flooding is not only disastrous to your home, but devastating to all contents as well. Protect your valuable assets by making sure you don’t just lock the door and walk away…