Happy Returns

Here we are approaching the peak of the holiday season. A break to recharge batteries, experience other cultures, get a fresh perspective on life or just laze and be waited on. However, all the benefits can evaporate if disaster strikes one’s home whilst one is away.

We all know the obvious precautions such as stopping the papers, cancelling the milk (assuming you are lucky enough to still have it delivered), getting a friend or neighbour to water the plants and arranging for Royal Mail to hold your post, but there are other things that you may not have thought about.

If you have a landline phone as well as a mobile, it is a simple matter to have incoming calls diverted automatically to your mobile, or to a friend or relative’s landline. Do this and anyone phoning to check whether your home is unoccupied, will have their call answered and therefore be deterred from putting you on their ‘easy pickings’ list.

Although having simple ‘plug-in’ time switches to turn lights and radios on and off has become so usual that it is no longer entirely convincing, it is still worthwhile as it creates a bit of uncertainty. Bearing in mind that most burglars take the obvious precaution of ringing the bell before forcing an entry, an acquaintance showed me a subtler deterrent; there are several digital devices that produce realistic dog barking and he had linked one to the doorbell via a switch. When his house was going to be unoccupied, the device was turned on and anyone ringing the bell was greeted with frenzied growling and barking.

It is plain common sense to turn off and unplug as many electrical devices as possible, rather than leave them on stand-by even if it means re-programming some of them on your return.
Similarly, in summer there is little reason to leave your gas or oil boiler running whilst you are away. Most modern boilers are complicated, with fans to boost the flues and mini computers to control everything, which increases the potential for faults to develop.

In the past, it was routine to turn off the water supply at the main tap when going away. With the boiler turned off this is still a useful precaution. However, it cannot be done if you still want an outside supply for garden watering in your absence, but you can reduce the risk of internal leakage and flooding by an alternative simple precaution. Washing machines and dishwashers are connected to water supplies by flexible hoses that are under continuous supply pressure. We take them for granted and rarely look at them although, like any hose, they can become brittle or prone to pin hole leakage with age. Imagine the damage if one of the hoses were to split and water was to spurt out for a day, let alone a couple of weeks! The hoses are connected to the water supply pipes via a small valve or tap. Turning this off before leaving will positively avoid the risk, however remote, of the hose leaking.

Another precaution involves wheelies and recycling boxes. Plan ahead and get rid of any perishable rubbish at the local tip, so that you do not need to leave your wheelie or boxes in view. In fact, tuck them away so that no one can peer in to see if they remain empty.

Have a good holiday. Equally important – have a good homecoming!

NOTE:
The writer is an independent chartered surveyor and has no connection with any firm of estate agents or surveyors. For reasons of client confidentiality he writes under a pseudonym. Comments and enquiries are welcome and may be sent c/o Wealden Advertiser Property, Gardens & Interiors.

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