How to properly prepare the house for a safe holiday?

How to properly prepare the house for a safe holiday?

After two years of restrictions on movement, many are forcing themselves to leave their homes. Perhaps you can finally see your family or friends living abroad , maybe you are traveling again for work. Regardless of your destination, home safety shouldn’t be the last thing you think about when you’re away. However, what actions should you take to prepare your home for a long absence? How to avoid unforeseen accidents? And how to return to the usual routine after the holidays?

The summer season is becoming a serious challenge for companies that maintain apartment buildings, with an estimated 20% increase in engineering network accidents due to the negligence of residents. The advice for the residents of apartment buildings is shared by Gintaras Arbačiauskas, a representative of the company “Civinity Namai”, which provides administration and maintenance services of apartment buildings.

Leave the backup key to a close friend and make sure that the administrator of the house has your contact.

“When going on vacation, it is worth entrusting the maintenance of the apartment to the closest friends, family members or neighbors. Ask them to take care of pets, water the plants or just ventilate the rooms. Be sure to leave detailed and clear instructions and contact numbers to the supervisor, for example, the administrator of an apartment building or the emergency service, in case of breakdowns or an emergency situation in the apartment,” says Gintaras Arbačiauskas, a representative of “Civinity Namai”.

The owner of an apartment left unattended should take care when leaving that the administrator can contact him and report an accident or other threat to property.

“It happens that there is a pipeline accident in the apartment building and we have to contact the owners of the apartments in the apartment building, but we hear from customers that they are currently on vacation and cannot let the masters in to inspect the pipelines. In such cases, the administrator of the apartment building turns on the water for several days, until the owner returns, for the entire stairwell or even for the house. There have been cases when apartment owners had to be searched with the help of the police, because only a landline phone number was left,” says G. Arbačiauskas.

Clean the fridge

Plan how you will consume food and drinks during the week before departure. Before you go on vacation, tidy up the fridge, review each shelf and give or throw away open milk packages, fresh vegetables and other perishable foods to someone.

Turn off all unused electrical appliances from the network.

There are still many old buildings in the country that are not properly grounded or protected from electrical discharges. When lightning hits the building’s electrical network, extremely large discharges can occur, which can damage a computer, TV or coffee machine.

Screw the dampers to the inlet water meters.

It is especially important to check all plumbing devices before leaving. Do not leave dripping taps or leaking guts. Even if all plumbing appliances work flawlessly, it is worth turning off the water supply both to the taps and to the toilet tank or other appliances that use water, for example, a washing machine. If the house is undergoing repairs to the dwelling or emergency situations occur, you need to constantly turn over and then unscrew the water supply in the building. Left unattended leaky taps can undergo additional mechanical effects due to air gaps, increased pressure or rust.

Check the hoses for connecting water to the sink, washbasin, toilet.

Flooding can cause damage not only to your homes, but also to the dwellings of all the neighbors living under you. Sometimes you have to disassemble the interior decoration of apartments in order to find the source of the accident. Even if you are insured, insurance money is unlikely to compensate for the troubles caused to neighbors.

Pay utility bills on time or in advance

Do not forget to pay bills on time. If the payment deadline is missed, the administrator of the apartment building transfers the accumulated debt to the debt collection agency. In order to avoid additional inconveniences, you can, not only pay taxes in advance, but also use the self-service platform offered by the administrator, with the help of which from anywhere in the world you can pay the bill.

Properly close the windows and doors, lock the locks and turn on the alarm.

If you do not want to find traces of thieves, it is important to take care that all locks are locked, valuable and easily accessible things are taken out of the balcony, doors and windows are closed, and neighbors warn about your absence. Best of all, if the property was entrusted to the storage of a security company.

Well and about everything again briefly – when leaving home for a longer period of time, it is advisable:

• It is very important to make sure that you have given your contact details to the housing manager, if you should be contacted immediately, and if you have left, the keys to the apartment are held by someone from relatives or friends living nearby.
• Turn off from the network all unused electrical appliances.
• Screw the dampers to the inlet water meters. They are usually located in the hallway or in the bathroom. The valves usually fail due to the fact that they were poorly installed or worn out, the pressure on the track increased, and a hydrostroke occurred.
• Check the hoses for connecting water to the sink /washbasin. If they are worn out, replacement is recommended.
• Check the hose supplying water to the toilet.
• Properly close the windows and doors, lock the locks and turn on the alarm.