Now you’ve bought the house. So what do you do with it? And a caveat: whenever you hire anyone to do anything down here, make sure they are licensed and bonded.
- Consider a surge collar for your electrical meter. The local power company sells or rents them and will install one for you. This will protect large appliances from damage by power surges, but it reacts too slowly to protect the smaller appliances. The power company will happily sell you socket-based surge protectors for TV, microwave, garage door opener, and your other small stuff. My mother had her A/C compressor replaced after the collar failed to arrest a lightning-caused surge. The company paid out over $400 with no hassle.
The surge collar’s main advantage is the guarantee. It will protect heavy duty components like compressors, but may allow enough juice to get through to fry more delicate components, like circuit boards in the “fridge which are not covered by the guarantee. When this happened to me, I put the “fridge on a socket protector in addition to the surge protector. We’ll see.
Neither will protect you from “brown outs” or reduced power.
- Your computer needs to be on a power supply surge protector (APC): do not rely on the strip protectors. I did and fried the motherboard. I’ve had no problems for five years with the APC.
When you go away for a month or so, think about this stuff:
- Landscaping: find someone to cut and trim the yard. In the wet season (summer), this will mean cutting it weekly. In the dry season, once or twice a month will do.
- Be conscious of weed control. Most of the yards down here are floratam or St. Augustine and will die with application of herbicides you may have used up north. Atrazine applied when the temperatures are under 85F will control most weeds. Apply it as a “weed and feed” preparation at appropriate intervals December through February. Ask at a landscape outfit before you do it. Alternatively, you could pay a landscaping company to maintain the yard. Most, however, won’t also cut it. But it can take the guesswork out of pest and weed control. For what they do, they will likely do it better than you…. at least for awhile until you get the hang of it.
- Swimming pool: The simplest solution (other than not having one in the first place) is to hire a company to monitor and maintain it while you are gone. It is a short-sighted mistake to depend on anyone other than an expert. Too many things can go wrong. Make certain the company will maintain chemical balance and has your phone number so they can call you if… make that when… something goes awry. If you have a well and septic system, many companies can monitor the well along with the pool.
- Well: The well pump needs to run 30 minutes a week or so to keep it lubricated. You can set your irrigation timer to run one or more of the zones for 15 minutes a couple of times a week and solve this problem. If you do this in the wet season, pick the zone(s) not over the leach field because over watering the leach field may cause it to clog and the septic to back up. If you are gone during the dry season, the irrigation system’s normal cycle will obviate this problem assuming you have it on a timer.
- The septic tank doesn’t need much. Just add a treatment to it. If it’s in good shape it will wait patiently, even hungrily, for your return. I should add that “nothing should go into the septic tank that didn’t go through somebody first, except toilet paper.” Avoid grease, hair, and keep fresh vegetable bits via the disposer in the sink to a minimum. Disposable diapers and sanitary napkins are absolutely the worst things you can put in the system.
- Storm shutters should be installed over all windows and outside doors. This is to provide storm protection, of course, and a certain amount of theft deterrence. There is also a hidden benefit to this in that it will keep the A/C from working quite so hard.
- Telephone, cable, and internet should be put on “vacation.” Call the respective companies. They’ll know what you mean. Typically, you’ll need to be gone at least 90 days to receive a reduced monthly charge.
- Arrange direct payment of utility, cable, and telephone through a bank account or credit card. Don’t depend on mail forwarding because you may go overdue before you get the bill. You definitely do not want the power company cutting you off in the wet season.
- Unplug electrical appliances including, microwave, TV, garage door opener, and refrigerator if you’re going to be gone for a month or more. Empty the refrigerator and freezer, and prop the door(s) open. These appliances all draw electricity even when “off” and also can be damaged by a lightning strike or power surge (even if you have a surge collar). If you’re evacuating due to a storm, follow this procedure because your power could be off for a week or more. When it comes back on, the system may experience surges and brown outs at first, which do electric appliances no good at all.
- Set the A/C at 80-85, if you’re going away during the summer Don’t turn it off. This will be enough to control humidity without bankrupting you. In winter, set the heat to 50 just in case we get a really cold day.
- Finally, ask a dependable neighbor to keep an eye on things. Give him your cell phone number and, maybe, your house key. Just in case.
OK. So you’ve decided not to go anywhere. Take a look at the house and the considerations I listed above and decide which, if any of them, you want to undertake. In my case, I monitor my pool, deal with lawn herbicides and lawn pest control, but hire someone to cut the yard and someone else to control household insects (mostly ants) and to monitor for termites.
Follow Us!