Winterize Your Vacation Home Right: Solid Advice from Premier Restoration Of The Carolinas

 What Steps Do I Need To Take To Protect My Vacation Home In The Off Season?

A quiet second home can become a costly headache the moment temperatures drop. We sat down with Tim Rhoades of Premier Restoration of the Carolinas to map out a clear, no-drama winterization plan that keeps your property safe when you’re not there. If you’ve ever worried about frozen pipes, surprise leaks, or a power outage while you’re miles away, this conversation gives you the exact steps to reduce risk and sleep easier.

Tim walks through the essentials: closing the main water supply, draining lines, and using RV antifreeze in toilets and sink traps so standing water doesn’t crack your plumbing. We talk about how to set your thermostat for cold snaps, when it makes sense to fully power down, and which appliances and outlets to leave running for safety or monitoring. You’ll hear practical, real-world advice about labeling breakers, unplugging nonessentials, and thinking in zones so you cut costs without creating new risks.

We also dig into off-season monitoring. A monthly walkthrough by a trusted caretaker often catches the issues that sensors miss, but smart options like whole-home leak detection, shutoff valves, temperature and humidity alerts, and cameras can add helpful redundancy. Tim highlights the most common mistakes—leaving the main water on, skipping trap protection, and assuming the HVAC will never fail—and explains how a simple checklist and a posted emergency contact list can prevent a minor problem from becoming a rebuild.

Whether your getaway sits in the mountains of western North Carolina or anywhere winter bites, these steps will protect your investment and your peace of mind. If you need professional help or a second opinion on damage, we’re here to make things right. Subscribe for more practical restoration tips, share this with a neighbor who owns a cabin, and leave a quick review so others can find the show.

To learn more about Premier Restoration of the Carolinas visit:
https://www.PremierRestorationoftheCarolinas.com
Premier Restoration of the Carolinas
888-847-2214

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
Welcome to Restore with Premier Restoration of the
Carolinas, where we turn floods,fires, and multi-mayhem into
clean plates and fresh starts.
Hosted by Tim Rhodes, the guywho's been knee deep in
disaster, so you don't have tobe.
If your home or business hasbeen through it, don't panic.
Tim's here to talk recovery,restoration, and everything in

(00:27):
between.
Let's get things restored.

SPEAKER_01 (00:33):
Your second home shouldn't be just a second
headache.
Tim breaks down how to keep yourvacation property safe while
you're away.
Welcome back, everybody.
Skip Monty, co-host slashproducer, back in the studio
with owner of PremierRestoration of the Carolinas,
Mr.
Tim Rhodes.
Tim, how's it going?
That's going good, Skip.

(00:54):
How are you?
Doing just fine.
Doing just fine.
I was uh just admiring everytime we do a podcast.
I love the intro music.
Uh was uh Pain and uh is it Painand Suffering?
Is that the name of the song?
By the Jacktown Ramblers.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08):
Jacktown Ramblers, yes.
Pain and Desire.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10):
Pain and Desire.
Pain and Desire.
If you heard it here, guys,those guys are outstanding.
So uh now that you know winter'supon us, unfortunately, and uh
uh some people are fortunateenough to have a winter home,
especially in this part of thecountry, up in the mountains in
western North Carolina.
Um if you're fortunate folks arefortunate enough to have a a

(01:32):
winter home or a vacation home,you know, it's pretty important
to make sure you're not thereall the time.
What steps should you take toprotect your vacation home when
you're not there, Tim?

SPEAKER_02 (01:43):
Oh, you definitely need to winterize it or have
somebody winterize it for you.
Um winterizing your it'll it'llprotect your protect your
investment, uh protect somewater damage, um, you know,
especially water damage in thewintertime.

SPEAKER_01 (01:58):
Oh my gosh, no, I can't imagine how bad it could
be if you're gone for weeks,maybe even a month at a time,
and there's a water leak, itcould completely destroy your
house, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_02 (02:10):
Well, I mean, yeah, it possibly could.
You're exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
Jeez.
So what what all is involved inproper uh uh winterization of a
home?

SPEAKER_02 (02:20):
It's a process of of turning off your main water
supply, draining your watersystems, uh putting some sort of
an RV antifreeze into yourcommodes and your your S traps
in your sink so they don'tfreeze, uh making sure your
heat's set to certaintemperatures so so you can
maintain and not freeze as longas nothing happens, you don't

(02:40):
lose power.
You your house won't freeze, itstays at a you know a set
temperature.
Uh and just make sure, you know,make sure you don't have a lot
of electrical products pluggedin.
That way you're not running alot of electricity, it's just
certain things you need.

SPEAKER_01 (02:53):
Well, I I was getting ready to ask that.
Are there specific systems orappliances that should be shut
off when you're winterizing?

SPEAKER_02 (03:03):
Well, I mean, everybody's house is different.
You know, some people wantdifferent things running, you
know.
So I I guess that's going to bemore homeowner-based to what
they cut off and what theydon't.

SPEAKER_01 (03:14):
Well, I know I've I've got a trailer on a farm
that we we winterize every timewe leave it because uh we we
don't leave we turn the heatcompletely off and put
antifreeze down into the sinksand uh P traps and and all of
that.
Um because otherwise you leavethe heat going so that it
doesn't freeze up while you'regone, but then you you know you

(03:37):
got a heck of an electric billor gas bill from that.
So what about do you recommendthat uh when you're gone that
you have somebody check on yourproperty?
And if so, how often should theydo that?

SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
Yeah, I mean that having somebody check on your
property during the winter oncea month is is a very good idea.
Uh that way they can tell you ifthere's any water leaks.
Uh you know, it's just it'salways good to have a set of
eyes on your property.

SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
Absolutely.
And does uh I know uh you know,there's all kinds of technology
now that you can even get thingsthat tell you if there's been a
leak.
But is there any technology thatyou would recommend that could
play a role in off-seasonmonitoring of a vacation home?

SPEAKER_02 (04:28):
You know, recommend no.
Uh look into it and let thehomeowner do their own research
by all means.
There's a lot of lot of cooltechnology out there that you
can put that'll, you know, letyou know if there's water leaks
and you know, depending on howmuch the homeowner wants to
spend, it'd be dependent on howhow tech savvy or they want to

(04:50):
be.

SPEAKER_01 (04:50):
Well, I guess you know, uh they're getting cheaper
and cheaper now, but like can'teven cameras, you could have
cameras set up where at least inin the main parts of the house
you could tell if something ifthere was water moving around, I
guess you could see.

SPEAKER_02 (05:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
So well, what are some common mistakes from your
perspective that homeowners makewhen they're closing up a
vacation home or maybe leads towhen they call you?

SPEAKER_02 (05:16):
You know, on our side of it, you know, the most
common is just not cutting offthe water, you know, not
properly winterizing it.
And that's you know winterizingit is a big circle.
It's a process, it's not just aone-step thing like we've talked
about.
Um winterizing it it takes time,and whether the homeowner does

(05:37):
it themselves or whether theyhire somebody to do it, it's
it's money well spent.
I would agree.

SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
Otherwise, they're gonna be spending a lot more
with you.
Eventually.
They will.
So uh what any recommendationson emergency plans like that
people should have in place incase something does go wrong
while they're not there?

SPEAKER_02 (05:59):
Oh, I would I would have I would have somebody
checking on the residents once amonth.
That's that's the best advicefor anybody is is have somebody
check on it once a month.

SPEAKER_01 (06:11):
And just in case, have the phone number for uh uh
premier restoration of theCarolinas up in the house
somewhere so that when thatperson checks on it, if there's
a problem, they can then giveyou a call.
Exactly, exactly.
Very good.
Well, um wish wish I wasfortunate enough to have a
vacation home, but I'm sure alot of our listeners do, and and

(06:32):
uh taking some good advice fromyou here to prevent uh, you
know, it's uh interesting to mebecause this is how you make a
living restoring things andfixing when when uh disaster
happens.
But um, you know, you'respending a lot of time telling
people how to avoid that.
So we appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 (06:50):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
Very much.
All right.
Well, Tim, thanks so much.
We we know what to do now withour vacation homes, and uh we'll
look forward to covering anothertopic on the next episode of
Restored.
All right, thank you.
All right, you have a good one,brother.

SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
Thanks for tuning in to Restored with Premier
Restoration of the Carolinas.
If disaster strikes, don'tGoogle, call the pros.
You can reach Tim at888-847-2241.
Or visit us online at PremierRestoration of the Carolinas dot
com.
We'll bring the tools, the team,and maybe even the shop back.

(07:34):
Because when things go wrong, wemake it right.