To winterize or not (hardwood floors, ski resort, house)
Portland areaPortland, ME metro area
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Hi: We'll be spending the winter in Florida for the first time and trying to decide on whether or not to winterize/shut down our southern Maine home or just leave the heat down. We have a small older 1200 sf ranch, oil baseboard hw heat, and wellwater. I'd be hiring a plumber to winterize the house shortly after we leave and then turn things on shortly before we get back in the spring. I have someone close by that can check on the house irregardless of what we do. We'd save money in oil costs by shutting down versus the plumbers cost to turn off/on. Wondered if other people in similar situation's could offer any insight, pros/cons? Thanks
I would winterize it completely. The unforeseen things that can happen greatly enhance the prospect that you may have an expensive repair bill upon you return. Not to mention the house may not be useable once you return.
Our motto with our second home at a ski resort is to always treat the house like you might not return for a long time, even if you are planning on returning the next month.
A neighbor had a washing machine valve go bad. Flooded a large part of their hardwood floors. They needed a complete refinishing. They were only gone 3 weeks.
Do a search on home winterizing for discovery of a few threads, here's the longest one.
Consider whether you want to spend the winter watching weather forecasts at home, worrying about power blackouts reported on the news, or whether you made the wrong decision or not. If you guess wrong, repair costs could cancel out what you saved on heating oil and cost more than paying a plumber to winterize. Fewer things could potentially go wrong if you winterize. If you are planning to spend your winters in FL most years, ask a plumber what modifications might be made to your plumbing to make winterizing easy. Then do it yourself. Might be a good investment for the long term.
Last edited by Parnassia; 09-14-2022 at 01:12 PM..
Last winter a vehicle wiped out a utility pole and tore electric wires off my house. No electric, no heat. That particular day it was about 40 degrees, 20 degrees that night. Thankfully, I was at my house and immediately made multiple phone calls to start the process to get things fixed. I needed an electrician to replace box on outside of house, had to call the company that owned the utility pole to replace the utility pole that was not owned by the electric company, calls to the electric company to assure them the box on the house had been replaced and utility pole had been replaced, ready for electric reconnect ... all to get electric fixed (reconnected) before the next night where the temperature was going to go below zero. Thankfully, the electrician came within an hour of calling him and the electric was back on by 5 p.m. the next night which meant I also had heat for the below zero overnight. If you are thinking I need a generator or a wood stove, or a fireplace, you may be right, but I don't have any of them.
Hi: We'll be spending the winter in Florida for the first time and trying to decide on whether or not to winterize/shut down our southern Maine home or just leave the heat down. We have a small older 1200 sf ranch, oil baseboard hw heat, and wellwater. I'd be hiring a plumber to winterize the house shortly after we leave and then turn things on shortly before we get back in the spring. I have someone close by that can check on the house irregardless of what we do. We'd save money in oil costs by shutting down versus the plumbers cost to turn off/on. Wondered if other people in similar situation's could offer any insight, pros/cons? Thanks
Do you have your house insured as a seasonal dwelling?
Hi: We'll be spending the winter in Florida for the first time and trying to decide on whether or not to winterize/shut down our southern Maine home or just leave the heat down. We have a small older 1200 sf ranch, oil baseboard hw heat, and wellwater. I'd be hiring a plumber to winterize the house shortly after we leave and then turn things on shortly before we get back in the spring. I have someone close by that can check on the house irregardless of what we do. We'd save money in oil costs by shutting down versus the plumbers cost to turn off/on. Wondered if other people in similar situation's could offer any insight, pros/cons? Thanks
I personally would do both, winterize and keep heat on very low. Better safe than sorry.
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