Do's and Don'ts for the unoccupied Retreat Home

[intelijoc]

Hello:

Who has the cabin/cottage as the second (retreat)home- and what are some rules/suggestions when unoccupied.
Let's say it's 6-8 months between visits.  Example; do I need to keep the temperature at a constant?, think cold weather or any other climate for that matter.

Just want to know who's in this boat- and what works.  What about that "nice neighbor" taking a peak inside? (yikes)

intelijoc

[MountainDon]

As far as keeping the temperature constant, that might be ideal, but a waste of energy resources. Plus if you were depending on a heater of some kind to protect the pipes from freezing, what would happen if there was a failure in that system?

Mainly we are concerned about freezing weather because of the damage that can occur with pipes freezing. Right now the temperature has barely been above freezing for an hour or two per day for the past couple weeks.

So my water supply pipes, when completed, will have provision for blowing out the pipes and fixtures using compressed air. There's a compressor on site at all times. As well I'll have some piping, like the shower, isolated with ball valves. That is so when we go up for just a day or two that section will remain dry. Just a little less to bother with when leaving.

The drain traps will be filled with RV antifreeze, or drained. There's no septic tank, just a gray water drain field and a composting toilet.

The toilet manufacturer says it's no problem to let the contents freeze.

Other than that we'll have shutters to cover the windows, mostly to prevent potential damage from falling tree branches. We have door locks to keep out the honest trespassers.

We have one neighbor a quarter mile a away. We check on each others place.

I also try to shovel the ashes and coals out of the wood stove before leaving so we don't have to bother with that task on the next return.

For winter we empty the refrigerator and turn it off. In spring/summer/fall we leave the fridge (propane) on and have never had a problem. We've done this same thing with the RV for years.

I set mouse traps in the RV and over the years have caught a few in the winter.

Dry foods we leave there are all in glass or metal containers. We leave some small containers of aseptic packaged milk up there (Horizon brand). Freezing doesn't harm it, they keep a good length of time on the shelf, and they are handy to have sitting there.

[intelijoc]

MountainDon;

Great stuff; rodent traps are something one would think common sense says to do but- "why didn't I think of that?" applies- thanks... also I've heard of the antifreeze but wasn't sure.  The freezing lines: So, are you saying you know temperatures are coming which will freeze lines?  Is this just a fact of life.  Asking this because I have property at 11,500ft in CO- 

[MountainDon]

11.5K feet in CO! Wow! At that elevation you would have freezing temperatures, overnight at the very least, for much of the year I would think. I've camped at 12,000 in CO in July/August and had ice outside in the morning. We're at 8800 in northern NM.

We can count on freezing temperatures for sure from October through March-April. But there is a delay between the exterior to interior drop. With the window on the south uncovered on sunny days the inside temperature rises. Then in the evening itcools, but not nearly as fast as the exterior. So what that means is I didn't see any freezing temperatures inside the cabin until early December this year. Even though the exterior temperatures dropped into the low teens overnight.

As for rodents, I'm hopeful that I took enough care in building the cabin to prevent their ingress.

[MaineRhino]

This is our second winter leaving our cabin unoccupied, and are learning as we go along. One thing that sticks in my mind is the use of deadbolts. I have dreams of the door blowing open just as we leave in the fall, and the winter snow blows inside and makes 6' snow drifts against the kitchen table.  Weird maybe, but it will be on my list of things to do next summer.

Mouse traps are in use too!

[MountainDon]

Deadbolts... speaking of locks   we always install a deadbolt lock on exterior doors. We also prefer solid doors, no windows in them unless it's something like a fan lite up near the top. No side lites either. That way I feel comfortable using a deadbolt with an inside thumb wheel in place of a keyed cylinder. If there's glass in or near the lock side of the door I don't like the thumb control as a burglar could break the glass and reach through and unlock the deadbolt. If you have a deadbolt that requires a key to open from the inside there's the danger of someone removing the key in the locked position and trapping someone inside.

We also do not like exterior doors with the usual automatic locking key in the knob lockset. I use a simple passage handset instead; like used on a closet, no lock. That makes it impossible to close the door and lock yourself out because you need the key to lock the deadbolt from the outside.

One thing I did on the cabin door was to leave out the heavy duty reinforcing plate that comes with any good deadbolt lock. My reasoning is that if someone does decide to kick in the door, I'll make it a little easier and maybe the door frame won't be damaged as badly.   It's so remote nobody is going to be close enough to hear a door being kicked in, or a chainsaw being used to cut a hole in the wall even. 

Just some thoughts of mine.

[John_C]

  It's so remote nobody is going to be close enough to hear ........ a chainsaw being used to cut a hole in the wall

Not very subtle are they?

[MountainDon]

I saw it done, or after it was done, back home to a half dozen or so lake cabins in northern Manitoba.

[firefox]

Post the following sign on the door:

Notice to burglars:

This house is protected by shot gun traps.
Please have name and address of next of kin
on person before entering.
Thank you

[glenn kangiser]

OHHHhhhhh -- but that makes it premeditated...

In today's society the criminal is always right I believe...

[phalynx]

You can fix that..  I have made a modification to the sign

Notice to burglars:

This house is owned by my old and forgetful mother who may, sometimes, but not limited to, occasionally, accidently left the shotgun attached to the door in a manner that may cause injury to any persons entering this domicile.  Please exercise caution before attempting to enter this home.  Not responsible for any loss of life or injury by entering this domicile.  By attempting/possibly succeeding to enter this home, you agree to waive all of your rights to any lawsuits brought on by the unsuccessful attempt should my mother have been in the house last, which she does frequently.

Please have name and address of next of kin
on person before attempting to enter.
Thank you

[MountainDon]

You'd have to post it in Spanish too. 


Things like that, even if tongue in cheek should not be carried through with, that's for certain. It's fun to think or talk about, but I'd even be careful about that.

Security off the remote location cabin has been mentioned in a topic or two on here before. It is an issue that's for certain. FWIW, keeping a list of the serial numbers of anything with them might help with recovery in some cases. Police here recently arrested a thief/burglar and found merchandise from a host of burglaries. Many people got their stuff back. Of course, you then have to pay the insurance company back.

[phalynx]

Spanish.....Wow,, Don strikes a joke before Glenn... Glenn, you are SLIPPING!!!

As for do's. hiding anything of value is probably the best solution.

[glenn kangiser]

There was an old man up here who fed the evidence to his hogs... it actually worked for him and the trespassers worked for the government, but I would not suggest that --- we are in a different sort of area around here....

Phalynx, forgive me --- I am sleepy and listening to head banger music -- makes it hard to think...if only I'd turn it down...

[glenn kangiser]

I set mouse traps in the RV and over the years have caught a few in the winter.

[mouse]

[mouseno]

[firefox]

Don is right folks. What I said was tongue in cheek and not meant to imply that you would really set up shotgun traps.

The intent of it was to give the burglar something to think about in the hopes he would change his mind and go elswhere.

But   it is sure fun to think about it.
Bruce

[MountainDon]

Back home I had a friend, or rather my friend's Dad, who had rigged up a falling block mechanism that fired a 12 gauge shotgun shell if the back door to the workshop was jimmied. He used shells with the shot removed; he simply wanted to scare the bejeebers out of anyone who broke in. He had been bothered by quite a few break ins.

One unlucky would be burglar jimmied the door, the shell fired, scared him so badly he ran lie heck for the front street when a cop car almost ran him over. The short ending to the story is the guy had his day in court, the judge sent him to jail for breaking and entering. The judge also warned my friends Dad that he should dispose of the shotgun shell "alarm" as it contravened some law or another, but at the same time he was somewhat sympathetic.

They did away with the shotgun shell apparatus and replaced it with a very high DB electric horn hooked up to the same door.

[intelijoc]

I've had a good chuckle- and I may add that in Ecuador, at least in Quito, I saw as a theft deterent, broken glass shards, embedded atop concrete walls 6ft-8ft; this sharp glass was a poor man's barbwire- I quess, nonetheless, jumping into someones backyard would prove formidable.

[soomb]

The broken glass seems to be popular all over the world.  People take used bottles and embed them and then shatter them or shatter and then embed.

[Redoverfarm]

intelijoc They would also do that to prevent "wall sitters".  Anything to make it uncomfortable for someone to utilize their property as a bench.

[ScottA]

We never locked ours. Just didn't leave any valuables in it. Always tried to leave enough wood by the stove to get a fire going in winter. No one ever bothered it till the roof got blown off by a tornado. Then the vandals broke all the windows out.

[FrankInWI]

mmm . some pretty sutle humor at work there 

[phalynx]

I had always been told the broken glass on the top of walls was to prevent birds from roosting and thus, "painting" the walls.  Works either way I guess.

[lonelytree]

Assume that your next trip could find you in an emergency (or near emergency) situation. Have the stove ready to light, extra wood, generator fueled etc....

Assume that next trip you could be taking a new guest that prefers clean sheets.

Mike

[intelijoc]

Regarding the fireplace- any precautions needed for the flue/