How to Prepare Your Home Before a Long Trip Abroad

Knowing what you need to do before leaving home for a vacation is essential. You can’t leave home before any adjustments and come back to find it in good shape. Below you’ll find some ideas to make sure that the home you come back to is in as good of shape as the one you leave.

The Basics

Here are some of the basics to keep in mind when you’re thinking of how to prepare for travel abroad.

• Empty and clean both the refrigerator and the dishwasher, then let them dry.
• A mixture of water and vinegar ran through the garbage disposal to prevent them from creating an odor.
• The thermostats set to a right and reasonable temperature according to the season. The water heaters to the vacation mode setting.
• Invest in the whole house generator used in the event of power outages. It saves one a lot, prevents food from spoiling, and many more.
• Make sure all smoke detectors turned on and all faucets in the house turned off. Water flowing in the house can lead to severe damage to sinks and floors.
• Employ a house sitter to water the flowers and house plants.
• Toilets flushed to prevent the gases from building up.
• Adjust the thermostat the day before the trip ends to arrive at a cool home.

Get Your Plumbing Checked

While thinking about how to prepare for travel abroad, getting your plumbing checked is a good idea. You may not think that your home’s pipes, drains, bathrooms, and toilets are good to go, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

The following should be followed and also taken into consideration when doing plumbing inspections:

• Locating the water meter and makes sure that the shut-off valve is working and efficient.
• Looking and find out any presence of lead pipes in the home. Lead is an environmental toxin that needs to eradicate.
• Determine the water pipes size around; this aspect determines the water pressure that is in the home.
• Inspect the water heater, the size, location, and age. Mineral deposits in the tank also checked.
• Make sure that the pipes are wrapped in cases of freezing weather. The vents are closed and opened.
• Determine the sewage system type, whether the waste goes into an installed septic tank or municipal sewage.
• Inside the house, check the bathroom and kitchen faucets if there are any leaks or leaking pipes.
• Flush the toilet and see if it empties and fills correctly.
• Check the water pressure and temperature of the water.

You should also consider getting a backflow test done before you leave. Backflow tests are used to test and make sure that the plumbing system is working correctly and drinking water not contaminated with dirty water. During backflow testing, plumbers test the efficiency of the backflow preventers. These devices within the plumbing system ensure that water moves in the proper direction.

Check Your Home’s Exterior For Damage

The home exterior inspection is done after some time or after the winter or spring seasons. It’s also a way how to prepare for travel abroad. You can also do it before you leave for a trip to make sure that you haven’t missed any loose shingles or siding that could lead to damage when your home is unattended. The following taken into consideration when doing exterior home inspection:

• Wall covering materials, the first thing one checks, includes trim around windows, flashing, and siding. The inspector notes the type of material and checks any rots, misalignment, bowing, and cracking.
• Exterior windows and doors are vulnerable, so any signs of cracks, rot, and decay should be noted.
• Walkways, stairways, and driveways, the stability and structural integrity noted.
• Decks and balconies, two are subjected to wear and tear from the homeowners, one check for sagging and rotten boards.
• Vegetation, drainage, and the property grading check for the landscaping and drainage of the home.

If you become aware of damage to your roof, you should contact local roofing services as soon as possible so that you can get your roof repairs done before you leave for your trip. Companies offering roof repair services are many and have the right personnel and equipment for the job. There are many types of roofing services, including roof repair and inspection, shingle replacements, leak repairs, and gutter repair or cleaning. Make sure you engage with the right one for you.

If there is damage to your siding, you’ll need some siding replacement before you leave to prevent damage from any storms that may occur while you’re away. Siding materials last up to twenty years from the time of installation. Finding the right company can help you make sure the materials last as long as they’re meant to. The following factors affect the cost and choice of siding replacement a homeowner can follow:

• Type of siding material.
• Additional replacements and items like trims and fascia.
• Size of the home.
• Cost of removing the current siding.
• Permits and necessary inspections.

If it’s found that your exterior doors have any weakness, it’s important to fix them before you leave while you’re thinking of how to prepare for travel abroad. An unattended home can already become a target, so it’s important to ensure that you home does not become an even more perfect target for a possible thief. Not only should you check your front door, but also any storm doors that you have on your property. Your front door should be impenetrable and secured so that no one can see just asses them at any time. Here are a few ways to improve the front door security:

• Replace screws in the door’s metal plate. Three-inch screws are then put as they go through the studs. It makes it difficult to break in.
• Replace the metal plates. Use longer metal plates to make the door more robust and durable.
• Make sure that the door is not hollow inside. Solid doors are the most secure and had to break. The door free from any decorative windows.
• Add locks opened only from the inside. It prevents any person or bugler from picking locks when one not around.
• Adding a barricade, used to secure the sliding doors and barricade’s swinging doors.

Get Rid of Pests

As soon as you see even a single roach in the house, it is essential to call the bug exterminator as fast as possible, especially when you’re considering how to prepare for travel abroad. Professional bug exterminators have the expertise to get rid of the roaches. Although one will require them to come like three more times to make sure they are over. Pest affects the economy as they encroach houses, business premises, and agriculture. There are many ways to control pests, including:

• Trap cropping
• Poisoned bait
• Biological pest control
• Field burning
• Mechanical pest control

Pests don’t give a warning before they make their way into your home. When you find them, your first instinct may be to panic, but there’s no need. Instead, you should identify them, call for a professional, and then get ready to deal with them. Start with finding local pest control.

Local pest control services are not hard to find. One needs to first research by asking friends, the internet, and many more places. The staff of the pest control companies should be highly trained and professional. The exterminator or team of exterminators at this service should be able to get rid of whatever pests are found in your home. Check to make sure the specific service you’re calling is able to take care of any pests in your home, and check their reviews as well to ensure that they’re doing a good job.

Deep Clean Your Home

When you’re thinking of how to prepare for travel abroad, you should think about deep cleaning your house. Here are a few ways that you can start deep cleaning your home as you get ready to travel:

• Overhaul the cleaning supplies. It is highly advisable to avoid products that contain fragrances or irritants. Giving the cleaning supplies an overhaul is a step to maintaining a safer and cleaner home.
• Start small. Microwaves can have stains and residues. Hence, one can decide to use lemons for a thorough cleaning process. One can start by placing a bowl of water and vinegar then wiping the microwave down.
• Use old T-shirts to wipe down mirrors. Old cotton clothes are excellent in giving mirrors that excellent streak-free look. One can also decide to mix vinegar, distilled water, and essential oil, then wipe the mirror dry.
• Use coffee filters on screens. TV, laptop, and tablet screens are delicate. If they have fingerprints and smudges, it is always essential to glide the coffee filter over the screen.
• Apply white vinegar through dishwashers. When you have hard water, mostly calcium buildup running through the dishwashers, it is essential to clean it using vinegar.
• Clean your kitchen countertop. If you don’t thoroughly wipe down your kitchen countertops before you leave for your trip, you run the risk of ending up with pests by the time you return home from your trip. Make sure to thoroughly clean it to avoid any residual traces of food that may be present before you leave.

Get Someone to Take Care of the Lawn

Before leaving for that vocation, you have to make sure that the lawn will be taken care of. The irrigation system and the exterior taps left to the lawn keeper in the right working conditions. The payment terms of a lawn keeper are negotiated and agreed upon between both parties. He can be paid both monthly or weekly, all according to the agreement. If you don’t have the budget for a professional, you can always try to call in a favor with a friend or family member to have them cut your lawn. Unkempt landscaping can be a giveaway that you’ve been out of town for a long period of time, so it isn’t ideal to have no one watching your lawn, especially if you have time to think about how to prepare for travel abroad.

A Residential landscaper is a great option when it comes to getting someone to take care of and even improve your yard while you are abroad. Since the profession focuses on creating beautiful landscapes out of areas that could not even imagine, you could come home to a better yard than you left behind. The following are duties of a landscaper that you can take advantage of:

• Planting of vegetation like trees, flowers, and shrubberies.
• Installation of hard scape feature, walkways, lighting, and foundations.
• Grounds keeping task performance like weed removal, pruning, fertilizing lawns and mulching of the flower beds.

Install a Security System

Installing security systems around the house brings comfort when one is either around or far from home. This makes them a perfect way how to prepare for travel abroad. There are several steps in installing a security system, including:

1. Choose a central location, then plug the base station into the electrical outlet.
2. Install sensor on the front door by pulling the tab that activates the battery.
3. Peel the protective paper and press the sensor which is on the door.
4. Press the magnetic sensor on the side jamb of the door, aligning it with the battery sensor.
5. Mount the wireless motion sensor on the walls.
6. Install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the whole house.
7. Mount the control keypad on the wall near the front door.
8. Program the passcode on the keypad.
9. Configure the video security camera and the home Wi-Fi.
10. The camera then plugged into an electric outlet for testing.

Installing an alarm system provides a wide range of benefits to the family and property of the home, especially when thinking about how to prepare for travel abroad. The following are the benefits that one enjoys after installing an alarm system:

• Protection of valuables like jewelry.
• Deters and prevents crime.
• Allows easy remote access to the home.
• Lowers the insurance of the home by about twenty percent.
• Notifications in case of fire and gas leakages.
• It helps one to keep tabs on all the family members.
• Improves management of electricity.
• Enhances comfort and peace of mind.
• Increases the value of the homes.

Take Out All the Trash

Dump disposal will be on a different day of the week in many neighborhoods, so make sure that on the last garbage pickup day before your trip, you take out all the trash you can. There are different methods of waste disposal which include; landfill, incineration, composting, and emancipating. The following are the trash removal tips followed.

• Make a plan of the specific places and rooms that one wants to declutter.
• Make the piles and sort out the items, recycle, selling and donating. It makes it easier to clean.
• The Best judgment used to prevent any bias when sorting out the items.

Junk removal services help you get rid of all the unwanted items in your home while you’re thinking of how to prepare for travel abroad. Make sure to take advantage of junk removal services like appliance recycling, furniture removal, basement clean-outs, garbage cleanup, and mattress disposal.

Going on vacation is a great experience, but making sure that your home is in good condition before leaving is essential to returning to the same home you left. The necessary inspections should be done, and more so, the security of the home guaranteed. It makes it necessary to follow all the security installation steps, house cleaning stated in the article.