Summers are good for living, and West Palm Beach’s residents get the most out of the season by heading up north. Sounds good, right? Except some people forget to do proper home prep work. The following are a few tips that should help you prepare your home for an extended time away. You do not want to come back to find issues you could have prevented by simply doing a little prep work.
Turning Off the Valve
The main water valve is located in the basement most of the time. You can have your plumber take care of this for you, but it definitely should be shut off while you are gone.
The reason you are shutting off the main water valve is to make sure you do not have a flood while you are gone. Water leaks can be detected when you are home, but this issue can turn into a flood when you are no there. This could lead to serious damage, and no one should have to go through that. Have the plumber shut off the valve to be safe.
Testing the Sump Pump
Another thing you should talk to the plumber about is the sump pump. This pit is strategically placed in your plumbing system to help ensure that your home stays dry and helps prevent floods.
Most of the time, you are going to find the sump pump in the basement though there are times when it is found in your home’s crawlspace. Again, this is another precautionary step, but it is one that could help prevent a big problem.
Water Heater Check
Your water heater should be checked before you leave for your vacation. The plumber is going to have to check a number of things to make sure your water heater is working perfectly by the time you return. For one, the heater needs to be checked for any corrosion, which could cause irreparable damage to your water heater.
The water heater could develop leaks, and these leaks could cause all sorts of damage to your home that you’ll discover when you are back from your vacation. The plumber is going to check for leaks and recommend that they are addressed before you leave. The water heater should also be set for vacation to ensure you aren’t using too much energy to heat up water when you will not need it.
Addressing Drain Smells
A lot of stuff goes down your drains, and sometimes, that stuff gets stuck. Given enough time, that stuff may develop a smell and, as time moves on, that smell is only going to get worse.
You are not going to want to come home to a smell you simply cannot stand. A plumber is going to inspect your drains to make sure they are clean and should pour down an eco-friendly drain cleaner made to tackle particles that could cause bad smells.
Turning Off the AC
Okay, the AC has to be turned off before you leave for your vacation. This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people forget to turn off their AC before they take off for a vacation. All you have to do is make sure it is off, and that could end up saving you money on electricity bills.
Cleaning the AC
You turned off your AC system, but you are not done. You also have to worry about making sure the system is clean. If you did not know, mold can grow in an AC system, and this needs to be addressed before you leave because the problem could only get worse. If you do not fix it, you could come back to a home that causes you to have allergic reactions.
The air ducts and other components of your AC are taken care of to make sure this does not happen to you. It should also be pointed that having your AC cleaned could also prevent insects from being attracted to your home because this could happen as well, which is another issue that would not only cause some anxiety; pest removal could be expensive, too.
Unplug Everything
It is important that you unplug all appliances or as many as you can. Sure, you are probably keeping security systems on, but other things should be unplugged.
Some people just turn off appliances before vacationing, but this is not wise because plugged items are still eating up your energy, and there is no need for those appliances to do that.
These are just some things you should do before you leave for a vacation, on top of all the other things you are probably already doing, like telling your neighborhood watch that you will be gone for a while.
You could also make sure you avoid talking about your trip on social media to make sure would-be criminals don’t find out you won’t be home. That roof of yours may need an inspection as well as your foundation; just try to evaluate your home to see if there are any vulnerabilities you missed.
Those who have more questions or want to find out if you missed anything could contact Hi-Tech Plumbing and Air to find out more about what you need to do to prepare your home. This part is going to take some time, but your home is worth the effort.