Every spring a lot of houses in Wesley Chapel, Florida sit empty. Seasonal owners in the 55-plus communities like Esplanade at Wiregrass Ranch head back north, and families spend 6 weeks with grandparents. The house keeps running while you are gone, and the humidity is the part that needs watching.
A closed Florida house in July with the A/C off grows mold. The air outside is saturated, the house is sealed, nothing is moving, and every soft surface becomes a place for mold to start. That is why the A/C is the first item on this list, and the rest of the list is what keeps a small problem from becoming a big one while nobody is home.
Set the A/C to run, not to save
The instinct is to push the thermostat up to 85 to save money. Do not. The A/C dehumidifies while it cools, and if it never runs, it never pulls water out of the air.
- Set point. Somewhere between 78 and 80 degrees is the usual guidance for an unoccupied Florida house. That keeps the system cycling through the day.
- Humidity. Under 60 percent is the target, and closer to 50 is better. If your thermostat shows humidity, that is the number to watch. If it does not, buy a hygrometer and leave it where someone can read it.
- Service and filter. Have the system serviced and the condensate drain line cleared before you leave, and put in a fresh filter. A clogged drain line in June can shut the system down for the whole summer.
- Air movement. Leave interior doors and closet doors open so conditioned air reaches every room. Closets are where the mildew shows up first.
- Share the number. If you have a smart thermostat, give whoever checks the house access to it so you are both looking at the same reading.
Water: the main, the ice maker, the water heater
A supply line that fails while you are home makes a wet floor. The same line in an empty house runs for weeks.
- Water main. Shut it off at the house if you can. If you would rather leave it on for the sprinklers or the pool autofill, at least close the valves to the washing machine and the ice maker, which are the two lines most likely to fail.
- Water heater. If you shut the main, switch the water heater off at its breaker, or to vacation mode if it has one. A tank that empties through a leak with the element still on ruins the heater.
- Ice maker. Turn it off and empty the bin. Left on, it keeps cycling and the bin freezes into a solid block.
- Run and flush. Whoever checks the house should run every faucet and flush every toilet on each visit so the traps stay full and the seals stay wet.
- Doors open. Leave the dishwasher and washing machine doors cracked so they do not mildew.
Lanai, pool and the yard
It is hurricane season from June 1 through November 30, so treat anything on the lanai as something that can blow away.
- Lanai furniture. Cushions come inside. Light furniture, umbrellas and anything sitting on a table come inside or go into the garage.
- Potted plants. Give them away, put them on a drip line, or expect to lose them. Do not leave them where they can blow through a screen.
- Pool service handoff. Confirm the pool company knows the house is unoccupied and has whatever it needs to get in. Ask them to text you after each visit. Make sure the pump timer is set and the autofill, if you have one, is working, because summer rain overfills and June sun evaporates.
- Lawn. Keep the lawn service going. An overgrown lawn is the clearest sign from the street that a house is empty, and the HOA notices it too.
- Introduce the crews. Tell whoever checks the house who the pool and lawn people are, so a stranger in the backyard is not a surprise to either of them.
Mail, packages and the front door
- Mail hold versus collection. A USPS hold runs a maximum of 30 days. If you will be gone longer, set up temporary forwarding, or have someone collect the mail on a schedule.
- Subscriptions. Pause the meal kits, the pet food deliveries and anything else that arrives in a box.
- The door. A smart lock with its own code for each person, or a lockbox with a key, is how you let someone in while you are gone. Not the fake rock, and not under the mat.
- Alarm company. Add whoever checks the house as a contact so a false alarm does not become a locksmith bill.
Fridge, freezer and cars
- Fridge. Eat it down and throw out anything that will not keep. Leave it running, but not empty, and a few jugs of water help it hold temperature.
- Freezer. Freeze a cup of water, set a quarter on top, and leave it. If you come home to a quarter at the bottom of the cup, the freezer thawed and refroze while you were gone and the food is not trustworthy.
- Photograph both. A phone photo of the shelves takes 10 seconds and is the only record of what was in there if the power goes out for days.
- Cars. A car that sits in the driveway for 3 months is another sign that nobody is home. Garage it, put the battery on a tender, and have someone start it and move it a few feet every couple of weeks.
- The small stuff. Trash out, cans back in the garage, small appliances unplugged, a couple of lamps on timers, and the garage door locked.
Tell the people who need to know
- HOA and CDD. Check whether your HOA wants notice that the home is unoccupied and an emergency contact number. It is a 2-minute email.
- The gate. If your community has a staffed gatehouse, put your home watch person, the pool company, the lawn crew and anyone who might need to make a repair on the guest list before you leave. A gatehouse calling a phone in another state at 7 in the morning should not be the plan. If your gate uses a code, give it once and let people know if it changes.
- A neighbor. Tell one neighbor who is expected at the house and roughly when, so visits do not get reported as suspicious.
- Your policy. If your homeowner policy says anything about unoccupied homes, read that section before you go and follow it.
Where a home watch fits
Everything above is what you do before you leave. A home watch is what happens after. On each visit we check the A/C and record the thermostat and humidity, walk every room for water and smell, check the panel and the water heater, run the faucets, look over the lanai and pool cage, bring in the mail, and send you a photo report the same day. If something is wrong, we call you.
It is $45 for a single visit, $150 a month for weekly visits, or $85 a month for every other week, and both monthly plans include a pre-storm prep visit and a post-storm check during hurricane season.
We are just down Bruce B. Downs in New Tampa, and we cover Wesley Chapel and New Tampa. If you are leaving this year, walk the house with us before you go. Show us the main valve, the panel and the thermostat, and tell us who else has a key. We write it down once, and you get a message after every visit.