Tips for Extended Travel - How to Prepare the Home

[chinaco]

What should one do to prepare the Home for an extended absence to keep it safe. Burglary, water damage, fire, cold weather, etc.

OK. Let's hear 'em if you got 'em!


Anybody know of a good book on the topic?

 

[Sconie]

Not sure whether you want to prepare your "home" (as in your day-to-day lifestyle) or your house (as in structure) for extended travel. That said, I seem to recall that there were several good tips, suggestions, etc., about preparing yourself and your lifestyle for "extended travel" in several different books that I read a few years back on "RV'ing" as a full-time way of life.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah - pretty much RVing books will cover this topic ad infinitum. There are a tons of RVing sites - escapees.com, trailerlife.com - are two very good ones.

 

[Martha]

It partly depends on where you live and how long you are gone.

The old farm house where we live in the summer and fall had some plumbing changes a few years ago to facilitate winterization so it is easy to drain the plumbing, including the outside faucets and the pump. The biggest PITA is the hot water heater because so much water is involved.

We drain the plumbing to eliminate the risk of burst pipes. I flip the breaker on the pump and the hot water heater. We flush the toilets after draining the plumbing. We then put rv antifreeze in the toilets and all the traps.

We either off the heat or turn it down to 45.

We have a friend check on the place ever few weeks. We do not have the driveway plowed, so that is a risk as the place does not look occupied. On the other hand, not plowing the driveway makes the place difficult to rob. Because it doesn't look occupied anyway we do not do things like put lights on timers.

I also remove all paper products like TP and put all soap in sealed containers. Mice love soap. I want to make sure that the house is not mice heaven on earth when we are gone. All food is removed or sealed in containers. Refrigerator is off, cleaned, and door propped open. I resign myself to mice nesting in the piano. I do not trap or poison when I am gone as the remains would be far worse than the live mice.

 

[RonBoyd]

There is this Thread, where it was discussed a little bit -- starting with, I believe, my post:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/rv-annual-expenses-53937.html

 

[e86s54]

With regards to monitoring (beyond preparing) There are now various companies (mostly real- estate related) that offer a check service.

If you have an alarm system that is monitored, you can have various sensors for water detection, heat, etc that can dispatch a friend when needed...police or fire as usual. The system also logs who and when people access your house. So they can tell you if its actually being visited and by whom.

If you have high speed internet, there are various monitoring tools available. For example you can purchase a DVR and attached a few cameras to it and see/hear/record the events in and around the house. Most cameras can see in the dark and record only on detection of movement. So you would just need to look at the logs of the machine and see if there are any recordings and play. Some also have input and output contacts that allow you to monitor control various devices and will email or sms upon detection. Almost all now can be viewed and controlled via smart phone. If you go this route, you should have a internet watchdog device that can reboot your DSL router upon loss of internet service (see ControlByWeb | Ethernet I/O for Relay Control, and Data Acquisition for some of their devices). That should ensure the service stays up or returns upon loss of such things as power. A small UPS would be good to have. DVRs usually have built in watch dog process.

 

[RonBoyd]

With regards to monitoring ...

Terrific post. Thanks for the Link.

 

[Corporate ORphan]

With regards to monitoring (beyond preparing) There are now various companies (mostly real- estate related) that offer a check service.

If you have an alarm system that is monitored, you can have various sensors for water detection, heat, etc that can dispatch a friend when needed...police or fire as usual. The system also logs who and when people access your house. So they can tell you if its actually being visited and by whom.

If you have high speed internet, there are various monitoring tools available. For example you can purchase a DVR and attached a few cameras to it and see/hear/record the events in and around the house. Most cameras can see in the dark and record only on detection of movement. So you would just need to look at the logs of the machine and see if there are any recordings and play. Some also have input and output contacts that allow you to monitor control various devices and will email or sms upon detection. Almost all now can be viewed and controlled via smart phone. If you go this route, you should have a internet watchdog device that can reboot your DSL router upon loss of internet service (see ControlByWeb | Ethernet I/O for Relay Control, and Data Acquisition for some of their devices). That should ensure the service stays up or returns upon loss of such things as power. A small UPS would be good to have. DVRs usually have built in watch dog process.

THis sounds interesting. Anyone ever seen the internet monitoring in action?

 

[e86s54]

I have a small business with this kind of setup...so I have done it. In a couple of years when both my kids are off to college and my DW and I start some serious travelling, I will do this with my home.

Many suppliers and retailers have demo websites you can access to see what its like.

 

[Rich]

THis sounds interesting. Anyone ever seen the internet monitoring in action?

This is the first year we've been away from home for an extended period (2.5 months, AZ). Prior to our trip I had our computer guy put in two cameras which I access from my laptop. In one of the cameras line of sight is a large outdoor temp gauge which shows me the temperature inside the house. Pretty neat, hitting a couple of keys and seeing what's going on in my home 3,000 miles away! I can also listen to what's happening around the camera. If I had attached a speaker I would have been able to speak as well.

Sorry but I don't have the specifics on the cameras handy at the moment. The set-up wasn't cheap (around $500~$600 dollars as I recall) but well worth it for the piece of mind it affords.

Rich

 

[braumeister]

I made my own system.
The cameras:
Axis M1011-W IP Wireless Network Camera (as many as you need). I got mine on eBay, but they're available many places. Great cameras.

The software:
Evocam software for remote control and viewing. Costs $45 for full access to all features. The software also can upload pictures to a website and to a remote server. I have it all running on a Mac Mini.

The interface:
Logmein.com account for remote control when I'm on the road. Basic account is free, more sophisticated control is $90 a year. The iPhone version is $30.

Everything about my system is rock solid stable and reliable, and very user-friendly (except for the initial setup, but the Evocam developer was fantastic about support -- I got email replies from him within an hour.

I can login easily with my laptop or my iPhone and see everything going on in the house. I can also control the Mac mini, including rebooting it, right from my remote location.

 

[Amethyst]

I wonder if it would be possible to install a speaker with a "Big Scary Voice" that you could use if you detect burglar-type movements in the house. You could pretend to be the voice of Dracula and scare the $#!+ out of them!

TI can also listen to what's happening around the camera. If I had attached a speaker I would have been able to speak as well.

 

[travelover]

I wonder if it would be possible to install a speaker with a "Big Scary Voice" that you could use if you detect burglar-type movements in the house. You could pretend to be the voice of Dracula and scare the $#!+ out of them!

Home Alone was a great movie, wasn't it?

 

[Amethyst]

Actually I never saw that movie. So, did it work? Burglars scared off?

Amethyst

Home Alone was a great movie, wasn't it?

 

[travelover]

Actually I never saw that movie. So, did it work? Burglars scared off?

Amethyst

Sorry, I don't want to spoil it for you.

 

[Meadbh]

You might not like what you see.....be afraid! Be very afraid!

YouTube - 'Paranormal Activity 2' Trailer

PS. Sssscary movie!

 

[kcowan]

My friend has these cameras in his PV condo. They rotate to pan the scene. The net effect so far is that his maid quit. I wonder what he would do from 3000 miles away if he saw anything going on?

 

[e86s54]

All this is very common in the business world. You'd probably be frightened if you knew how many cameras catch you in their recordings on a daily basis. It so cheap now that you can put them in your home.

The ability to fire off a pre-recorded announcement is easily done and I do it at my business remotely as i is unmanned most of the time. If I see anybody doing something stupid, I fire off a polite message informing them to stop and that they are being watched and recorded. Works like a charm.

Pan/Tilt & Zoom cameras are nice, but more expensive and still can only see in one direction or location at a time. Its usually cheaper to have more still cameras around.

I'd have no problem letting a maid go if she didn't like the cameras...if she's doing her job, there are no issues. Employees everywhere are watched and monitored constantly. Try and count all the surveillance cameras at a Wal-Mart. You need some time to do this as there are many. My small business has 30!

 

[e86s54]

This also remind me of a ATM heist in downtown Toronto a few months back. These guys used a stolen pickup truck to drive through the main entrance of the convention center and loaded up the ATM machine in the back and drove off There are so many cameras in the core, that they were able to follow them back to the parking garage they stole the truck and the entire route these guys took.

People may not like the fact that these are used, but the reality is that they are everywhere!

 

[Martha]

All this is very common in the business world. You'd probably be frightened if you knew how many cameras catch you in their recordings on a daily basis. It so cheap now that you can put them in your home.

The ability to fire off a pre-recorded announcement is easily done and I do it at my business remotely as i is unmanned most of the time. If I see anybody doing something stupid, I fire off a polite message informing them to stop and that they are being watched and recorded. Works like a charm.

Pan/Tilt & Zoom cameras are nice, but more expensive and still can only see in one direction or location at a time. Its usually cheaper to have more still cameras around.

I'd have no problem letting a maid go if she didn't like the cameras...if she's doing her job, there are no issues. Employees everywhere are watched and monitored constantly. Try and count all the surveillance cameras at a Wal-Mart. You need some time to do this as there are many. My small business has 30!

I'd quit if I were the maid.

I'd probably quit if I worked for you.

It isn't the case that "if she's doing her job, there are no issues." People don't like have someone looking over their shoulder while they work. It's creepy.

 

[e86s54]

I'd quit if I were the maid.

I'd probably quit if I worked for you.

It isn't the case that "if she's doing her job, there are no issues." People don't like have someone looking over their shoulder while they work. It's creepy.

I understand...but then there wouldn't be too many places you would work today. The proliferation of surveillance cameras is astounding!

Also, I don't really watch 30 cameras full-time. I mostly look back when there are issues. It also allows me to quickly access situations and remedy them...so I run my business better. It is also a deterrent.

You are also only looking at one side of it. Try sticking your neck out for millions of dollars to build and run a business. Your view towards security and surveillance would be very different.

Its the world we live in...

 

[Gone4Good]

What should one do to prepare the Home for an extended absence to keep it safe. Burglary, water damage, fire, cold weather, etc.

Sell it or rent it.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Hmm. Another very informative thread. Thanks. This may be useful in the near future.

 

[Corporate ORphan]

This is a very interesting thread. However, I'm wondering how it would work with the situations my SIL told me about today. Someone must be casing their neighborhood. A few weeks back when we had a lot of snow on the ground someone came a stole her and two neighbors' AC for the copper during the night while they were home! Then last week a neighbor was moving and left their pit bull in the house. It's a good thing they did because someone came while they were at the new house and drilled the locks out. The pit bull scared them so they left with nothing.

If you are not looking at the camera at the time someone is in the house (like my SIL not looking outside when her AC took a hike), I guess you won't prevent the theft but you would know who did it if you had it taped?

 

[Sarah in SC]

I understand the benefits of cameras for businesspeople, but like Martha, I'd quit.
I found out that a prior employer was going to put up secret cameras in our warehouse and told him that I would absolutely quit if he did so.

It is one thing if you sign on to work somewhere like Walmart, where the cameras are there to protect you, and working somewhere where someone is secretly monitoring you scratching your butt. Nope, couldn't pay me enough.

But back to the OP, I have used Housecarers to arrange for folks to actually live in our place when we've done extended trips and would probably do so again, either through a formal arrangement like them or casually with friends.