Closing up a Florida home is not the same as locking the door on a cabin up north. Here, the enemy is heat, humidity and rain, and the house has six months to lose that fight. The University of Florida publishes a good checklist for this, and it starts earlier than most people think: about three weeks before you go. Below is that timeline in plain English, plus some notes from the side of the job Jeff sees, which is the yard, the outside of the house and the repairs.
What this post covers:
- •What to line up three weeks before you leave
- •What to buy, stop and clean two weeks out
- •The last week and the last day
- •Which jobs you can hand to someone else
Three Weeks Before You Leave: Make the Calls
This is the week for phone calls, because good people book up. Schedule your air conditioning service, since the guide says a professional should check the system before you go. While they are there, ask them what setting they recommend for your home while it is empty, because that setting does a lot to control humidity.
Read through your homeowners insurance and update it if you need to. Update your home inventory too, and keep a copy somewhere other than the house. Find out what your condo or community will maintain while you are gone, because many take care of some of the outside work, and the rest stays with you.
Then line up the people. The University of Florida list includes someone to routinely check on your home, someone for the landscaping, someone to close shutters if a hurricane threatens, and pool care if you have a pool. Jeff can check on the house every other week and handle the yard, sprinklers and repairs. It is worth calling him at this stage, while you can still walk the property together.
Three Weeks Out Is Also the Time to Walk the Outside
The guide says heavy seasonal rains will force water inside if the outside of the house has defects. So take a slow walk around the home. Look for gaps around windows and doors, loose weatherstripping, cracks in the walls, and gutters and downspouts that need clearing.
Look at the yard too. Plantings should sit three feet or more from the foundation so air can move. Limbs over the roof are worth handling now. Check your sprinklers by running each zone while you watch, because no one will be there to see a broken head in July. Our page on sprinkler care for empty homes covers that.
Anything you find goes on a list. Small things like caulk are cheap now, and you can hand the bigger repairs to Jeff to finish while you are away.
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Two Weeks Out: Mail, Timers and Deep Cleaning
Buy timers for your lights and radios, since the guide says a home should look lived in. Forward your mail and stop any newspapers or magazines. Buy desiccants if you plan to use them.
This is also when to start cleaning with products that kill mildew. It sounds fussy, but it makes sense: the guide points out that food particles and body oils left on fabric attract mildew and pests, and a house with no one in it gives them plenty of time.
One Week Out: Empty and Move
Start eating down your refrigerator and freezer, and clear food out of the cabinets. Test your timers. Vacuum upholstered furniture. Remove potted plants, inside and out.
Move patio and lanai furniture into the garage or house, so it cannot blow around in a storm. Leave your contact information with your neighbors and your homeowners association, so someone can reach you if anything comes up. If you have a junk pile you have been meaning to deal with, this is a good week for a cleanout and haul-away.
The Day You Leave
Most of this list happens inside. Empty and disconnect the refrigerator and leave the door slightly open. Turn off or disconnect the water heater. Strip the beds. Cover the drains and seal the toilets. Unplug appliances and electronics. Leave interior doors open so air can move, set your timers and alarm, and lock up.
Then there is the water. The guide says to turn it off at the exterior meter unless that water feeds your lawn irrigation. If it does, your sprinklers will stay live while you are gone, which is one more good reason to have them checked first.
Do not drain the pool, the guide says, and leave pool care to whoever you have lined up. And check the air conditioning settings one last time on your way out.
What You Can Hand Off
You do not have to do all of this alone. Jeff covers much of the outside of the list: mowing and trimming, sprinklers, repairs and hauling. Air conditioning service should go to a company licensed for that work. And if hurricanes are on your mind, read what to do about hurricane season when you are up north next.
Where this information comes from