Is flushing toilet once a month adequate in empty home? (houses, contractors)

[khuntrevor]

yes, that's a good point. The TH has a walled front patio, so that helped, and I had a small army of neighbors keeping an eye on it. Now, my house is 100 ft off the street and that has really added to privacy (and the block wall, of course), and I have only gotten about two tax prep door hangers the whole year. I also have both sides on lookout, including the guy, who works in his garden all day.

[Two-K]

We're snowbirds too, and had the same concerns as you. The local home care services warned us if we didn't have them take care of our house, our wood furniture will crack and the wood framing in the walls will shrink causing the nails in the sheetrock to pop out; toilet water and sink traps will evaporate allowing sewer roaches to enter the home; seals around the dishwasher door will dry out; and the A/C must be left on to keep stuff from melting. Their solution was to place 5 gallon buckets of water thoughout the home and to do a weekly flush and run the sinks and dishwasher.

I don't remember what they were charging for the service, maybe $60 or $80 a month, and it may be worthwhile to you for the peace of mind it will bring. But here's the reality: you really don't need to do any of that. From personal experience over the last 3 summers, we did absolutely nothing other than making sure our yard watering program was working and changing the backup battery in the sprinkler timer. We shut off water to the house, flip the circuit breakers to the A/C, air handlers, fridge, stove, water heater, microwave, unplug any wall warts, and make sure there's nothing in the pantry that might attract mice. Most of our furniture is solid wood, and there's never been any splitting or warping at all. Never a single bug in the dry toilets or sinks. No smells from the long dried out traps and no popped sheetrock screws.

I won't get into how all of the dire warnings from the home care service can easily be debunked, suffice to say you are pretty safe just using common sense before leaving for the summer.

[Cynduy]

We are in the gated section of Anthem so "in theory" we should not get a ton of stuff on our door but having said that, I know it will happen to a degree. I have made friends with the full time neighbor on one side and given her our email address. We have also installed security cameras inside and out so I can check on the house remotely. Our Canadian snowbirds on the other side told us that we should leave buckets of water throughout the house. The first year they were here they did not and their wooden headboard and wooden coffee table both have big cracks in them. We live in the Pacific NW and needless to say, we don't have low humidity problems. :-)

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Cynduy

We are in the gated section of Anthem so "in theory" we should not get a ton of stuff on our door but having said that, I know it will happen to a degree. I have made friends with the full time neighbor on one side and given her our email address. We have also installed security cameras inside and out so I can check on the house remotely. Our Canadian snowbirds on the other side told us that we should leave buckets of water throughout the house. The first year they were here they did not and their wooden headboard and wooden coffee table both have big cracks in them. We live in the Pacific NW and needless to say, we don't have low humidity problems. :-)

Those houses must not be very well insulated if furniture actually cracked. That is a rare occurrence. But, your house is like theirs, so do as they did.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

What I did is use some newer home automation products to help me take care of my place. It uses Zwave technology and various components such as lights, door locks, cameras, thermostats, water shut off valves to automate our 2nd homes. I now have piece of mind.

Here is how it breaks out:

1.) The main box is Wireless (and is very ROBUST) that run about $250 using Zwave wireless technology. Just hook it into a wired port anywhere in the home. You will need high speed internet in the home.
2.) I have door locks ($250 ea) that are also Zwave. I can control who and how people get into the home and at what time of the day. I can change codes on the fly and do all of this on my smart phone. If I like, I can get text when someone specific opens the door.
3.) A thermostat ($100) can be controlled remotely. Again, I can get text if the temp is too high and or low. I can change my temp in the home as we speak and I can tell you want it is currently at any time of the day.
4,) I turn on lights on and off remotely with creative timers. $45 each switch.
5.) I have a shut off ball valve that I can control the water supply that cost $300.
6.) A wireless or Ethernet camera that hooks into this box can view my rooms ($200 ea).

I can go on and on but this is just the basics. For about $2K and no monthly fees, I love the security and convenience!

A final point... We used the bucket of water technique to add humidity and turned OFF the air. Zero problems.

[Steve Pickering]

Some of this is really funny. Turn off the water, flush the toilet, and use a few towles to soak up the remaining water in the bowl. If you have a lawn that needs watered you will need to see how your property is plumbed. Don't run the air condioner as your house really doesn't care if it gets hot or not. Don't set out buckets of water etc. This is just plain old wives tales. Do put out roach and ant poison. Turn off and open the fridge after drying it compleatly. Leave it open. Now drain traps (Sinks) can dry out and let odors in. There are several ways to deal with this.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Some of this is really funny. Turn off the water, flush the toilet, and use a few towles to soak up the remaining water in the bowl. If you have a lawn that needs watered you will need to see how your property is plumbed. Don't run the air condioner as your house really doesn't care if it gets hot or not. Don't set out buckets of water etc. This is just plain old wives tales. Do put out roach and ant poison. Turn off and open the fridge after drying it compleatly. Leave it open. Now drain traps (Sinks) can dry out and let odors in. There are several ways to deal with this.

Odd advice to drain toilet bowl but be worried about odors from sinks. The water in a toilet is the trap. When it drys out, odors come in (and so can roaches). I do agree about the buckets of water and the ac. Utter nonsense, IMO. People leave furniture in storage, in warehouses etc during the summer. I can't argue that cracks never occur, but it seems very far-fetched to me. Anyhow, I think a house in summer here would be more humid without the ac than with it, but have never researched or tested that theory.

[Steve Pickering]

You won't be draining the entire trap on most bowls. But it is something to think about. People wory about lime rings. You are right as AC drys the air. Something most people are not aware of.

[S. Chris Webb]

You should leave the AC on, but at a high temp like 86-90 so it only goes on when it gets extremely hot. Excessive heat can and will warp carpet, deteriorate certain fabrics, melt candles, drain batteries, ruin wallpaper, and possibly do other kinds of damage to furnishings. Take the word of someone who has been inside thousands of vacant houses with no electricity. Also as someone who has seen the damage from many vacant properties being flooded, I also recommend turning off all water to house (except for watering system). When you come back, be sure to open the dishwasher before running it. Check all your valves for new leaks when you turn the water back on. Check your smoke detector batteries.

Here's some more vacation tips from APS.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

...Don't run the air condioner as your house really doesn't care if it gets hot or not. Don't set out buckets of water etc. This is just plain old wives tales..

Your advice might cost people thousands. When I bought my foreclosure property, I had to replace all of the carpet in the home. That's because it sat empty for 2 summers without any cooling. The carpet had this "brittle" feeling. I checked to see if the carpet was under warranty and I was told by the factory that some carpet blends will start to feel this way as they slowly break down. Its a combination between hot temperatures and super low humidity. People who store their carpet remnants in the attic of Arizona homes have seen this happen even quicker. The carpet installed firmly warned again it.

Snowbirds who are working off of experience tell me that elastic waist bands will break down as well if you don't better control the humidity or the temperature.

My wood flooring contractor said he has observed what Mother Nature can do to glued down wood flooring (some species are worse than others). He wasn't talking about expansion and contraction of these wood floors.

I put out buckets of water in every room. I bought 25 of those Rubbermaid containers and fill it to the brim. I'm sure I go overboard but it definitely raises the humidity in the home. They are all dry by the end of August. I bought one of those 4 wheeled movers to roll them around.

Then, I turn off the air conditioning and monitor my temperatures with my Zwave thermostats and my computer. With the shades shut, it could be 115 outside and my home is around 98. It would be interesting to work the math to find out how much the evaporation from the buckets reduces the air temperature. I absolutely feel the humidity when I walk in the the home. I'll take measurements this coming summer. Additionally I have tall ceilings so the hot air that rises is away from the fabrics.

Using my technique, I've had a near zero electric bill and no problems with fabrics or wood floors.