The bags are packed. You’ve got your passport. You’ve got cash.
Oh boy, no snow to shovel. But, by the way, who is going to tend to that job? If your walks aren’t cleared you’ll get a ticket.
Worse to imagine is if those gorgeous trees in your front yard go searching for a drink by spreading their roots into your water line. What if the sewer backs up? If you’re on a cruise, you may be the one crying, “Water, water everywhere!” and you won’t be talking about the scenery out your porthole.
“You can only prevent so much,” said agent Charlene Zoltenko, of State Farm Insurance.
“But if your house is left unattended for more than three days and a pipe bursts, your insurance may not cover you.”
Wise travelers will check their insurance policy before they set sail because the rules about what is covered and what is not during an absence will vary from company to company.
“Every company is different. So your policy could be null and void if you are gone for one day and don’t shut the water off or it could be null and void after four days,” said Heather Mack, director of government relations for the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Zoltenko has done some house-sitting herself. Last summer she took charge of a brother’s home while he was on holidays.
“Wouldn’t you know it was on my watch that we got all that flooding? His basement flooded,” she said, stressing that it’s OK to get family members to check on a property as long as they do it thoroughly.
“They should keep a record of how often they are in the house and they need to go down the basement to check if the furnace is on or if there is water on the floor,” she said.
One of the biggest potential savers is to simply turn off the main water valve to your house before you leave, said Cathy Stefner, of Erin Home Sitting.
“I have heard of people who had their toilet tanks burst while they were away,” she said, adding that even if water was left in the tank, if the main water valve had been shut off, the only problem would be a small amount of clean water on the bathroom floor.
Most travelers worry about break-ins while they are away. To discourage thieves, do everything you can to make it appear as if you are still at home.
“It’s easier in summer because all you have to do is make sure the grass is cut. But be sure your walks are shoveled and make sure your garage-door opener is unplugged or the signal is disconnected so that people cannot enter your home that way,” Stefner said.
Businesses that install home alarm devices will monitor your home, but once again, homeowners need to check their policy with their insurance broker to see if they are covered.
“I would guess that it’s such new technology that most companies would still require that you have someone physically entering your house and checking,” said Mack.
Some security installations will monitor the moisture level on the basement floor and will check the home’s temperature.
“We have monitors that are linked to your smoke detector. We also have sensors that notify us if the temperature in your house is too low or too high. We can have a sensor that notifies us if your sump pump is not functioning and we can put water bugs on your floor that tell us if your hot water tank or your toilet tank burst, ” said Kevin MacPhee of Direct Security Group.com.
Relatively inexpensive cameras priced at less than $200 can be purchased at most hardware stores. They may be mounted in your home and hooked up so that you can have a live-transmission look at the house from anywhere you can operate your phone or laptop. The problem with these installations is they only take photos of one room at a time.
MacPhee cautioned against the false-economy mindset of people who try to save money by leaving their home unprotected because they think security is too expensive.
“Why take your home, your largest asset in life, and leave it with a $15 lock from the hardware store to secure it?” he asked.
Here’s a quick checklist compiled by Dwayne von Sprecken of Your Trusted Neighbour, a home-sitting company.
• Unplug all un-used electronics and plug in 24-hour timers to run lights on and off. Program a timer for a radio or TV to give the impression that someone is home.
• Mute the ringer on your phone and turn the volume off on the answering machine.
• Lock all windows and doors and ensure gates are closed and locked.
• Unplug the garage door opener and ensure the garage is secure.
• Leave drapes and blinds in a daytime position to give the appearance of someone being home.
• Have your walks shoveled, but also consider leaving your car in the driveway, or ask your neighbor if he can occasionally park there.
• Turn off the main water supply to the house.
• Stop newspapers, mail and deliveries.
