A house that is occupied gets monitored by accident. Somebody notices the radiator is cold, hears the furnace cycling oddly, or spots the damp patch while putting something away. A cabin standing empty from October to May has none of that. Winter home preparation is really about removing the failures that need a person present to catch.
Closing up properly
Most of what goes wrong in an empty building over winter traces back to water being somewhere it should not be, and most of that is decided at closing up.
The water system is the main event. Depending on the property that means shutting off at the main and draining the lines, draining the water heater, and dealing with traps so they do not evaporate dry and let sewer gas back in. Some places get antifreeze in the traps, some get the whole system blown out. Which applies depends on the building.
Outside, the same rules as any Montana house, with more at stake: hose bibs drained, gutters cleared before freeze-up, anything that could catch snow load checked while you can still see it.
The freeze problem, specifically
Heat is the thing people most often assume will simply keep working. A furnace that quits in an occupied house is an uncomfortable evening and a phone call. In an empty building, it is the start of a sequence.
If the heat goes and nobody knows, the building drops to ambient. Pipes that were left charged freeze and split. The split does not leak while frozen. It leaks on the thaw, and by then the water has somewhere it wants to go and days to get there.
This is the entire argument for either draining properly or having somebody look in. Preferably both.
Closing up for the season
- Shut off water at the main and drain the system
- Drain the water heater
- Deal with traps so they do not dry out
- Disconnect hoses and drain exterior bibs
- Clear gutters before freeze-up
- Set heat to a holding temperature if the building stays charged
- Check the roof and any structure carrying snow load
- Unplug what does not need to stay on
- Secure doors, windows and any outbuilding
- Leave access arrangements with whoever is checking the place
Checks while you are not there
Vacation home maintenance is mostly the gap between closing up in October and opening again in May. Draining a system removes the worst freeze risk, but it does not tell you about snow load, a window a storm has worked open, an animal that found a way in, or a roof that has started leaking onto something.
That is what home watch is for. Somebody walks the property on an agreed schedule, inside and out, and you get photos and a written note each time. If everything is fine, the report says everything is fine, which is the thing you are actually paying for.
When something is found, the right move is almost always a decision for the owner rather than for us, so the call comes first and the work comes after.
Opening back up
Spring opening is the reverse plus an inspection. Recharge the system slowly and watch for leaks at every fixture rather than turning it on and walking away. Check the water heater before it is asked to do anything. Then walk the building looking for what the winter did.
Finding a lifted shingle in May is a different conversation from finding it in August, after the summer rain has been using it.
When to call a specialist
Draining a system, clearing gutters and securing a building are within what we do. A furnace that has failed, a split supply line, and a well or pump problem are not. We are not a licensed plumber or HVAC contractor. For a cabin on a well, the pump and pressure system in particular belong with a specialist, and we will bring one in rather than guess at it.
Checking an empty property is what our home watch service covers, and our maintenance plans fold it into a standing schedule so nobody has to remember it. We do this across Seeley Lake, Clinton and Bonner, and the rest of the towns around Missoula.
Not going to be there this winter?
Tell us about the property and we will work out a schedule of checks that fits how it is actually used.