How to Winterize Your Vacant Home
- 1). Turn the heater on "Low." This may seem like a waste of energy, but having the heater on will help prevent freezing temperatures in the home and keep the pipes from bursting. Additionally, Service Magic states that many parts and components in a home are meant to be at room temperature. The cost of the heating bill is exponentially cheaper than the bill you could get if the pipes burst and flood your home.
- 2). Turn off the water and drain all the pipes completely if your home is on a downgrade. If there is no water in the pipes, there is nothing to expand within them.
- 3). Leave water running through the pipes if you do not drain them. Turn on the water in a fixture closet where the water enters the home and at its farthest point inside the home. A small, constant trickle of water will help prevent the water from freezing in your pipes. This is because flowing water is less likely to freeze than standing water.
- 4). Wrap insulation around your hot water leader and the pipes that go to and from it. Additionally, insulate exposed pipes outside the home and in the crawl space.
- 5). Pour anti-freeze into the bowl and tank in each of the toilets, per the directions on the bottle. This will prevent the water in the toilet from freezing and cracking the porcelain if there is a power failure.
- 6). Clean out the gutters. Water can back up and spill onto the wrong area of your home if the gutters are full of debris; doing this will help prevent the basement from flooding or foundation from shifting.
- 7). Trim branches that hang over the house. If there is an ice or windstorm, branches that hang over the home, especially dead branches, could snap and fall onto it.
- 8). Weatherize your doors and windows. These areas of the home are notorious for letting heat escape. Place a weather strip on the door, and make sure the seals on the windows and windowsills are still in good condition.
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